Extraordinarily Ordinary
by BlueSuedeShoes
Summary: A car accident? It was an insultingly mundane way for Chloe to end up in the hospital.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Comment: Okay, this is relatively AU in the sense that Oliver and Chloe have not been having their friends with benefits fling, but otherwise, I'm going to do my best to be consistent with the SV timeline.**

**Enjoy!**

**BlueSuedeShoes**

* * *

**Prologue**

I remember when I thought I was normal. I remember when normal _seemed_ normal.

Those convictions didn't last long. Somewhere between creating the Wall of Weird and discovering that my best friend was an alien from a distant galaxy I realized that there was no such thing as normal, and even if there were, I was far from it. It wasn't that I was inherently abnormal as a person. All things considered, I was just the average, carbon-based life form with two X chromosomes who really wanted to survive high school. Long before I was inhabited by alien technology intent on destroying the world, chosen as the object of an alien monster's affections, or infected by meteor rocks and given temporary healing powers, I was physically..._ordinary_. But even so, I attracted weirdness and I was astonishingly alert to the weirdness in the world, unlike the blissfully oblivious people around me.

It often made me suspect that all those years of insanity were building up to this life, _my _life as Watchtower, as if somehow I was being physically and mentally trained to lead the Justice League and no one but me could do it.

Maybe it was a little vain, thinking I was the only on who could handle being Watchtower, but somehow, I think I knew it had been predestined the moment I put in that earpiece and Watchtower officially went online. Everything I'd gone through over the years, everything I'd lost and gained, had somehow been leading up to that moment.

It was strangely easy to accept the fact that my life was never going to be remotely close to normal. I didn't just accept it; I embraced it. I no longer _wanted_ normalcy. I wanted bigger picture, grand scheme. Dedicating my life to helping a team of heroes fight the good fight and save the world on a regular basis was the only way I could live. It was who I _had_ to be. It was what I needed.

Weird had become my normal.

**Chapter 1**

_This is unbelievable_, Oliver thought. _A car accident?_ Of all the ways he had morbidly envisioned Chloe coming into harm's way, never had he expected something so..._everyday _to incapacitate her.. Car wrecks could happen to just anyone, not Chloe. _Kidnappings, assassins from the future, alien monsters, Checkmate agents...hell, ninjas, but a car accident?_

It was an insultingly mundane way for her to end up in the hospital. How was it that he'd managed--by some miracle--to keep her safe from so much, but he'd allowed her to get hurt in a hit and run?

"Mr. Queen? Mr. Kent?"

Oliver's and Clark's heads whipped up at the same time to see a doctor looking at them calmly.

"Miss Sullivan is awake, but--"

Oliver didn't hear the rest but immediately burst into Chloe's room in relief. Clark rose instantly to cal Lois and give her the news.

Relief and guilt simultaneously washed over him at the sight of her sitting up in her bed, looking thoroughly battered.

"Oh thank God," he said. "You nearly gave me a heart attack, Sidekick. How are you feeling?"

Chloe stared at him blankly, her mouth slightly open and...was she blushing?

"I...uh...I'm sorry," she looked confused, shaking her head slightly, "Do--do I know you?" She looked at him helplessly, her ears turning red as she did so.

Oliver stood shell-shocked in the doorway, shell-shocked. After a very pregnant pause, he called out, still staring at her, "CLARK!" He vanished from her room.

Chloe watched him leave, trying to fight off anxiety. Clearly she was supposed to know him. "Wow," she whispered quietly, wondering who he was and how in the world she knew someone like _that._

Several minutes later he reappeared, this time accompanied by Clark. And yet, it wasn't Clark, not her Clark anyway. This model was much older, slightly sophisticated looking in a suit and tie and...was that a press pass? _Well that was unexpected._ The Clark she remembered sported a farmer's tan and flannel most of the time, and his hair was _never_ neatly combed.

_I guess a lot changes in close to ten years_, she thought wryly.

"Chloe?" Clark said tentatively.

"Hi, Clark," she said awkwardly. "I guess the doctor told you?" she asked.

He nodded. "How much do you remember?"

She shifted, not making eye contact. "Clearly? I remember everything up until freshman year of high school--" both men's eyes widened "--and after that, well I have little tidbits here and there."

"Tidbits?" Clark repeated incredulously.

"Yeah," she carefully studied the tile on the floor. "Like, I remember homecoming and that big tornado. I remember Pete moving away. Graduating. Your dad's heart attack. Little flashes of things, but nothing particularly coherent."

Clark's mouth was hanging open. "But you don't remember Oliver?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, not sure who he meant, but then she realized he was referring to the man next to him. She shook her head but stopped. It hurt a little.

"What about Jimmy or Davis?"

She started to say no, but then, "Wait, Jimmy? I--Didn't he intern with me...yeah! I interned at the Daily Planet one summer and I met him there."

Apparently she had said something earth-shattering because both men looked mortified.

"I--" Clark stammered, "I should call Lois and warn her." He backed out of the room.

Chloe watched him go dubiously. "He and Lois know each other? Huh. I bet they're at each other's throats constantly." She looked to Oliver as though she expected him to laugh or at least smile but he was still looking thoroughly horrified. She blushed and cleared her throat. "Um...so, wh--who are you exactly?"

Oliver opened his mouth but nothing came out. He shook himself. "Sorry, I'm your...boss?" He seemed unclear on the concept.

Chloe frowned as several questions surged forward at the same time. "Boss? God, I hope you're the editor of a newspaper. But, isn't it weird for someone's boss to check on them at the hospital?" she asked him awkwardly.

Once again words failed Oliver at first, unsure how to handle this. "We're friends, too."

"Oh." She paused. "What do I do?"

Oliver had no idea how to answer that. "Well, you used to work at the Daily Planet, if that makes you feel any better."

Her eyebrows practically disappeared into her hairline. "Used to?" she repeated, brushing aside the fact that apparently there was something to feel bad about.

"Lex Luthor bought it and fired you." The words poured out of his mouth before he could stop himself. He wasn't supposed to upset her.

Suddenly an image of Lex Luthor sitting behind the editor's desk flashed through Chloe's mind. Her head started to ache as she clung to the memory, trying to remember anything else attached to it. "I think...I kind of remember that..." she trailed off. "But not really." He was obviously telling the truth, though. That was enough for her. She looked at him again. "What do I do now, though?" she asked, noting how he had evaded answering that question in the first place.

He shifted uncomfortably. "Erm...you don't really have a job title."

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. "Try."

Oliver searched frantically for an explanation that would satisfy her for the moment. He had to discuss with Clark and the team what was to be done about this situation, but he had a feeling she needed to remember on her own. "Personal assistant?" he suggested valiantly.

Down the hallway a nurse almost dropped her clipboard in surprise as she heard someone screech "I'M A SECRETARY?"

Back in the room Oliver panicked. "Not..not exactly. You're...well, it's complicated. We'll explain it to you later. Right now I'm not supposed to give you too much information at once. The doctor warned me it might send you into shock. You've been out of it for hours."

Chloe looked at him, horrified. _A personal assistant? What on earth had happened to her over the years?_ "Who _are _you?" she demanded once again.

"I'm Oliver Queen. We've been really close friends for several years now and you started working for me a couple of years after we met."

"How did we meet?"

His mouth opened and his eyes darted to the side in a clear desire to evade that question. The longer he stood in the room, the more Chloe became suspicious that there was something distinctly weird going on. He wasn't just trying not to put too much on her at once. He was clearly hiding something. _But what?_ she wondered. _Is it something I'm supposed to know but forgot, or is it something that I wouldn't know about anyway?_ Finally, Oliver gritted his teeth for response. "I dated your cousin for a while--a _really _long time ago," he added hurriedly. "And then I met Clark around the same time and that was how I got to know you."

She frowned, her heading starting to hurt more and more as she struggled to remember. "How does Clark know Lois again?"

"They're--" he cleared his throat "--dating?"

Chloe's jaw dropped and she felt a sudden, familiar pain in her chest. She had several images of Clark and Lana pass through her brain at once as she recalled being sloughed to the side for her on a regular basis.

"Wh--what happened to Lana?" she asked, suddenly sure they had been dating at some point. Never mind the fact that her best friend and her cousin were dating and it was absolutely impossible to envision.

"She's...gone?" Oliver said, not even remotely sure how to explain everything that had happened where Lana Lang was concerned.

Chloe stared at him, once again certain that he was holding back vital information. She closed her eyes in frustration. "Where's Clark?" she asked. He would tell her the truth, surely.

But as soon as she thought it, she was suddenly seized with the conviction that it was wrong, that Clark did nothing but keep secrets from her. She rolled her eyes in frustration. Great.

"So..." Oliver began, watching her anxiously, "the doctor says your memory should come back on its own. We just need to keep an eye on you and make sure you don't strain yourself in the meantime. It shouldn't take long."

She narrowed her eyes at him again. "The doctor spoke with me, too. He also said there's a chance that I'll never regain my full memory."

He shrugged. "I was being positive, but if you want to look at it like that..."

She felt her mouth twitch into a smile at his response. She had a feeling that that statement somehow symbolized their relationship with each other...whatever that relationship really was. She looked up to find him scrutinizing her.

Suddenly she felt herself overwhelmed with a feeling of embarrassment. Her face grew hot and she stammered something about wanting to talk to Clark.

He nodded and left. When he returned, Clark and Lois were with him. Lois nearly crushed her in an embrace that made her cry out in pain from her bruised ribs.

"Sorry," Lois apologized, instantly loosening her grip before pulling away completely. "You just scared the living daylights out of me, cuz. I'm sorry I couldn't break away from work right away. There was a huge scandal at City Hall. But I rushed over as soon as Clark told me you were awake. How's your memory?" she asked.

Chloe grinned at her cousin, who also looked older and much more mature than what she once remembered. "Well...I remember that you got a tank to drive you to prom and the general never figured out how."

Lois grinned. "Well, at least you've got the important stuff." She turned to Clark. "What have you guys decided about where she's staying?"

Chloe looked up at the three of them. Oliver and Clark shifted nervously. Lois's hands went to her hips.

"You didn't discuss it, did you? You know I'm going to an assignment in Mexico tomorrow. I'll cancel it if necessary, but can't _one of you _look after her?" She looked at Clark expectantly.

"Lois," Clark rolled his eyes. "We're going on that assignment together. What do you expect me to do?"

Oliver shot Clark a look that Chloe didn't fully comprehend.

"I could stay with Lana..." Chloe suggested weakly. She suddenly had an image of the two of them sharing a room in Chloe's house. Apparently Lana had once stayed with her.

But the three people in the room looked from one to the other awkwardly. _What's with all these people acting like everything I say is completely bizarre?_

"Um, Chloe, Lana...moved," Lois said finally. "We haven't heard from her in a couple of years."

Chloe looked sad but slowly nodded her head. "Oh. Well, what about staying at the farm with Mrs. Kent?" she suggested, looking at Clark. "She'd probably appreciate the company, wouldn't she?"

Clark nodded. "Yeah, but unfortunately, she's not at the farm much these days, Chloe. Mom became a state senator."

Chloe stared at him in surprise. "Oh."

Lois turned to Oliver, but he backed away instantly. "No way, Lois. That's totally inappropriate. She has no idea who I am."

Chloe stared wide-eyed at her cousin. Why in the world would Lois even suggest she stay with her male boss? That was a law-suit waiting to happen.

"What about Dinah?" Clark suggested. "At least she's a girl."

"Who's Dinah?" Chloe asked, but no one appeared to be listening to her anymore.

Oliver shook his head. "We both know Dinah would get her in trouble before Chloe could bat an eyelash, and anyway, she's in Paris again. She'll be gone for at least a month."

"Who's Dinah?" Chloe repeated again, more demanding now.

"Oliver," Lois said, annoyed. "Chances are she'll remember you in a couple of days, and your place is the most convenient. We both know she's not going to get into any trouble with you around," she shot him a significant look that Chloe didn't understand.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Chloe asked, but once again no one answered her.

"I don't think it's a good idea," Clark spoke up.

_Thank you, Clark._

"Oh get over it," Lois snapped at him. "She'll be perfectly fine with Ollie."

"And...and she clearly can't go back to her place," Oliver pointed out, giving Clark another one of those loaded expressions that seemed to be flying back and forth all over this conversation.

"Why not?" Chloe asked suspiciously.

"You shouldn't be alone," Clark answered too quickly. She had a suspicion that wasn't the only reason. Yes, Clark Kent, man of mystery. The absurd statement fit, she realized, seized with a feeling that she had struggled for years to find out what he was hiding.

"Isn't there anyone else?" Oliver asked pleadingly. Chloe was on his side. She did _not_ want to go stay with her boss that she couldn't remember anything about. How awkward was that?

Lois shook her head. "Maybe I shouldn't go," she said sadly.

"Lois," Clark stopped her. "You're the one who's been having visions of Pulitzers ever since we _got_ this assignment. I don't care. I'll stay and look after her."

"Oh for the love of--" Chloe rolled her eyes. "Don't make me feel like a priority or anything, you two. Apparently whatever this trip you're going on is important. I'll stay with spiky hair over there if it's the easiest thing."

She looked at all of them with an air of defiance.


	2. Chapter 2

--2--

"Where do you live?"

"Fifteen minutes from here."

"What kind of place?"

"A penthouse."

"How can you afford that?"

"I'm _really _well off."

"And I'm your personal assistant?"

"Yes."

"Aren't I a bit unqualified for that?"

"Hardly."

"What exactly do I do?"

"A lot. Do you have to keep interrogating me like this?" Oliver asked her finally, tearing his eyes from the road. After keeping her over night, the doctors had finally given Chloe the okay to go home with him, but he was adamant on the fact that she needed rest and no sudden shocks. Oliver had looked at the doctor dubiously when he gave him the instructions. The man clearly had no idea who he was talking about. Chloe hated being idle, and there was no possible way she could regain her memory and not have it be a sudden shock. Her _life_ was a sudden shock.

Chloe blushed. "Sorry. I just...well..."

"You don't like not knowing what's going on. Trust me; I know." He smirked to himself, eyes returning to the road.

She gave him a funny look.

"Sorry, I just know you really well, and if there's one thing I've learned about you, it's that you have to know everything about everything. You google everyone you meet."

Chloe blushed, but trudged ahead. "What would I find if I googled you?"

He grimaced. "Very little that's flattering."

"Oh?"

"I have a bad reputation with the press most of the time...although you've decreased that problem dramatically since we started working together."

"Together? I thought you were my boss."

He glanced at her again, considering her. "It's a very insufficient way of phrasing it, but also the closest to being accurate. I sign your paychecks, but half the time you tell _me_ what to do, and the rest of the time we're closer to being partners."

Chloe frowned, trying to register what he'd said.

After five minutes Oliver got almost nervous from the silence. "That is the quietest you've been since you woke up in the hospital yesterday. What on earth are you thinking about?"

"That my life is very different from what I expected it to be when I was fifteen."

Oliver felt a surge of guilt. It was absolutely true, and a lot of the time he felt responsible for it. She was put into danger almost daily because of him, and her friends were far from the norm. He wondered how she'd react when she regained her memory..._if _she regained her memory.

But he couldn't think like that. She had to get it back. She had to because the JL needed her. _I need her_, he thought with a pang. He had never admitted it to Chloe but...well...there were just certain things they didn't talk about. _Like the fact that my entire life falls apart if she decides to leave_, he thought ruefully, _or that it's practically fallen apart now purely because she doesn't remember me._

"I'm sorry," Chloe said suddenly.

"What?" Oliver snapped out of his reverie, pulling his car up to the clock tower where a valet took the keys from him. He walked around to help her out and she looked upset.

"I just...I can tell it's really hard on you that I don't know who you are." She refused to make eye contact.

He felt another pang, this one of guilt. "Hey! Don't you dare apologize! This is hardly your fault. I mean, come on! Besides," he said, trying to cheer you up, "this is going to be really fun for me. I get to fill your head with all kinds of made up stories about us."

She gave him a surprised look but then seemed to realize he was kidding and she laughed. Then she looked at the building they'd arrived at. "You live _here_?"

He grinned, pleased that she was impressed. "Yep. Top floor."

"Th-the top?" she stammered as he dragged her along, her head tilting back to see the top of the building where there was a giant clock.

"Uh huh. Clark should have brought all your luggage over by now," he added, "so everything will be all set up for you."

"Did he bring any photographs?" she asked in the elevator.

"I...I don't know. Maybe?"

"I hope so," she said thoughtfully before growing quiet again.

When they reached the top and the lift opened, Chloe stopped dead still, staring, but Oliver didn't notice.

"Guest room's back here," he said to her, showing her the way before realizing that she wasn't following. He turned back for her. "Chloe?"

She'd taken only one step off the lift and was looking around her, wheels turning in her brain about ninety miles an hour as she absorbed the room. Oliver was about to ask what she was doing but stopped, realizing that maybe she was remembering something.

After a moment, the spell seemed to break and Oliver asked whether she were all right.

"I...I don't know," she said, staring at the wall that hid the Green Arrow's equipment. "I thought something seemed familiar for a minute. But," she turned back to him. "I guess I'll be getting a lot of that for a while." She grinned weakly at him, and Oliver tried to hide his disappointment. "Anyway," she said, "where was this room?"

Chloe didn't miss that hopeful look that had swiftly vanished from Oliver's face. She felt bad. She knew, just as he'd told her downstairs, that it wasn't her fault, but it just didn't stop her from feeling bad. She knew it would upset her terribly if someone she were close to didn't remember her.

"Clark had amnesia," she said suddenly. "Clark had amnesia for a day in high school and I had to take care of him!"

Oliver turned to look at her, relieved. "I think one of you told me about that." Then suddenly he raised an eyebrow. "What else do you remember about Clark from that day?"

Chloe gave him a confused look. "Ummm..."

"Never mind," he said quickly, opening the door to her room where it was revealed that Clark had not only brought over all of her things but gone to the trouble of unpacking them for her, too.

"He must have been here for an hour at least," Chloe thought, pulling the drawers open to find neatly folded and organized clothes.

Oliver snorted before he could stop himself. _An hour, Chloe? Try three seconds._ He thought it, but said instead, "Yeah, real nice of him."

Chloe glanced at him, disliking the strangely dismissive tone of his voice. Then she noticed there was a bouquet of tulips on the dresser. She walked over to them, smiling and found a card.

_Chloelicious--_

_Glad you're out of the hospital. Hope your memory comes back soon!_

_Love, Bart_

Chloe looked dubiously at the card. "Is Bart my boyfriend? And do I really let him get away with calling me Chloelicious?"

Oliver snorted, walking over to read the card. "He's not your boyfriend, although I imagine that's what he'd like you to think." He chuckled.

Chloe looked at Oliver. "So, how do I know him?"

"He works with us, too."

"And this is normal for him?" she gestured the flowers, unable to suppress a smile at them.

Oliver raised an eyebrow, not liking the sappy look on her face. "Very."

Chloe shook her head, amused. "When did I meet him?"

"Years ago in Smallville. Are you hungry? We can go get some dinner," he changed the subject.

She nodded. "Starved. That hospital food was awful," she complained.

Oliver laughed, heading out of the room. "You should have let me know. I would have snuck you in something better."

Chloe looked after him in surprise, then, catching herself, she started to follow after him but stopped when she heard another voice.

"Hey, Bossman. How's 'licious?"

Chloe suddenly recalled a young man at a coffee shop handing her a flower and calling her 'Chloelicious.' She grinned, remembering that he had been flirting with her heavily and was apparently Clark's friend. Where had they been? She closed her eyes, forcing herself to remember. She saw Lana behind the counter and bright decorations...the Talon! Of course. She felt a small weight lift as an important chunk of high school returned to her. Lana had had the old theater where her parents met renovated into a coffee shop.

She was about to go see Bart, eager to see someone else she apparently remembered, but she realized suddenly that they were talking about her.

"Bart, I'm telling you, don't do anything weird around Chloe. She doesn't remember any of us. It could send her into shock, okay?"

"Aw, c'mon! Where is she? I bet she'll remember me!"

"She barely remembers high school, Bart. She's not going to remember you. So tone it down, okay? I don't want her panicking, at least not without Clark or Lois around to convince her we're not all freaks."

_Freaks?_ Chloe thought. _What are they talking about?_ The word seemed to carry a lot of weight with her, but she couldn't think why. Fed up with being talked about when she wasn't in the room and with their cryptic statements, Chloe went to join them.

"Hi, Bart," she grinned, pleased that he was the boy she'd pictured--slightly older of course, but still the correct person. "Thanks for the flowers."

He beamed at her.

"You remember me?" he asked excitedly.

"You remember him?" Oliver said at the same time, with less enthusiasm.

Chloe nodded happily. "It just came back to me. I met you in the Talon, right?" she looked at him hopefully.

"Yeah!" Bart rushed over to him--without his super-speed, Oliver observed thankfully--and kissed her on the cheek, giving her a happy hug. "I knew you'd remember me. Kinda funny, though, cuz you didn't remember me before," he added.

Chloe looked confused. "Huh?"

"That time in the Talon was _ages_ ago. When I found you again a couple of years ago you didn't recognize me right away."

Chloe raised an eyebrow, but watched silently as he cheerfully raided Oliver's fridge.

"So you remember him, then?" Oliver asked warily. "Do you remember anything other than that first time you met?"

Chloe shook her head. "Unfortunately not. But he brought back the memory of the Talon. I'd forgotten all about that."

He nodded, apparently thinking very deeply about something. "Huh." She glanced at Bart again and was surprised to see that for someone of his size, he was really going at Oliver's food.

"Wow," she said. "You eat a lot."

Bart looked up at her and grinned. "I burn a lot of calories. Besides," he added suddenly, "you never know when I might need to spring into action." He wiggled his eyebrows for her.

The sentence clicked something in her mind. "You've said that before."

Bart's grin grew and he nodded.

"Are you through eating me out of house and home, Bart? I was going to take Chloe to dinner."

Bart looked at Oliver sheepishly. "Yeah, sure, no problem, Ollie. I'll clean up later." He shot Oliver a significant look and Oliver nodded.

"Thanks."

"Anyway," Bart said, "I just wanted to check up on you, 'licious." He came over to plant another kiss on Chloe's face and Oliver rolled his eyes. "You scared us all to death."

"Us?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah," he responded absently, "me and the JL--Oops," Bart said and Oliver shook his head in dismay.

"The other people we work with," Oliver explained.

"Oh."

"Yeah," Oliver glared at Bart. "Come on, I've got your coat," he told her, clearly exasperated.

Chloe started to go with him but paused to kiss Bart on the cheek. "Thank you, Bart. Goodnight," she told him, laughing slightly when his face turned bright red with delight.

"Don't forget to clean up, Bart," Oliver told him as Chloe stepped past him onto the elevator. When the doors closed he looked at her wryly.

"I like Bart," Chloe grinned. "He's sweet."

"Yeah," Oliver said sarcastically, "he's a regular Prince Charming. Just...do yourself a favor and don't encourage him so much."

Chloe laughed. "Why not? He seems harmless," she joked.

Oliver rolled his eyes.

"You don't like him?" Chloe questioned.

Oliver looked surprised. "What? No, I like Bart just fine."

"You were grimacing the entire time he was there."

Oliver shifted, glancing away. "I just think his flirting with you gets old really fast. The kid has no focus."

The word 'kid' struck a note with her. She frowned. "He's awfully young to be working for a...wait, what do you do, again?"

_Good question. _"I'm a CEO."

She looked startled. "A CEO? Okay, yeah, he's _extremely _young to work for you."

"He's a messenger."

"And he's on first name terms with you?"

"Jeez you really don't miss a beat, do you?" he laughed. Chloe didn't respond, just looked at him expectantly. "He's also a really good friend. He's very talented," he said, attempting to explain Bart away.

Chloe didn't looked remotely satisfied, but she let it drop.

_So not cool_, Oliver thought sulkily. _She remembers the kid and not me?_ Then he reminded himself that she didn't remember everything about Bart, and she had met him long before she'd met Oliver. Besides, he ought to be glad that bits of her memory were clearly coming back to her.


	3. Chapter 3

--3--

_Well that was...surprisingly and pleasantly not awkward_, Oliver thought on the way back from dinner. He'd taken Chloe to her favorite place in the hope that it would be familiar to her, but she hadn't noticed. He even told her what to order because he knew what her favorite dish was, and while she'd thoroughly enjoyed it, it hadn't returned any memories...at least none that she let on about.

All through the meal, Oliver became more and more conscious of the fact that Chloe didn't trust him, which was odd, really, because otherwise she seemed ten times more carefree and lighthearted than he'd ever known her to be. It had never occurred to Oliver to wonder what Chloe was like before the world of heroes entered her life. It had been so long before he'd met her that somehow he had just assumed that she'd always been that way. But the Chloe he'd spent the evening with was different. There was still a faint trace of tragedy behind her eyes, but not the weighty one that had been there until the car wreck. He assumed that look had been there since her mother vanished. Still, it just didn't seem to burden her the way the loss of Jimmy and the Doomsday incident did. Even before that she'd seemed weigh down, practically buried, under secrets and lies and knowledge of things that the average person simply should not have.

He couldn't help it. He liked Chloe with her younger mentality. She was...charming. _Not that she wasn't charming before...she's just more...cheerful?_ he searched for the correct word in his mind.

Yet with all that, it bothered him that this new Chloe--or perhaps this old Chloe--didn't trust him. It was evident by the tone she took when asking him questions, the suspicious looks she shot him when he did his best to answer but had to form half-truths. On some level, he understood that it was only natural. After all, he was currently hiding a _lot_ from her. It didn't matter how old she was, from what Clark had told him about growing up with Chloe, Chloe could sense a secret from ten miles away. Oliver vaguely wondered how long it would be before she put two and two together about the members of the JL. It was bound to happen. She'd figured it all out once before hadn't she? For now, he knew he had to keep it all from her, but he was sincerely looking forward to her figuring it out once again, or, better still, remembering it all. Much as he liked to see her so unburdened, he needed Watchtower back.

He missed her.

Chloe had thanked Oliver for a nice dinner and then eagerly headed for the room he was letting her sleep in, shutting the door carefully behind her. As soon as she was sure he wouldn't come in after her, she rummaged for pajamas and found a nightgown she was mildly shocked she even owned. Once upon a time she'd been a sweatpants and over-sized T-shirts kind of girl. She tried to remind herself she was definitely not fifteen anymore. And really, it wasn't racy or anything, just a bit shorter and a bit more clinging than she ever would have had in high school.

She wondered what her romantic life had been like since high school. More importantly, she wondered if she had ever gotten over Clark Kent. All those years ago, it hadn't seemed likely that she ever would. Seeing him in the hospital, she'd felt the same fluster of butterflies in her stomach as she knew she had once upon a time, but all at once it felt unnatural, too. It was almost as if her body were wondering what was wrong with her brain.

She shook away the thought and moved on to more important matters. _Oliver's right about one thing_, she smirked to herself as she found a laptop that was evidently hers, _I can't resist doing a web search on everyone I meet_.

She sat down on the edge of the bed. She researched Bart first, as she had remembered him first and was hoping she could learn more about him, but that search was virtually fruitless. The name Bart Allen brought up virtually no results and she resigned herself to talking to him later to find out more.

Next she went for Lois, and then Clark. She didn't go too far back, thinking that most of the articles were probably about people of similar names, and instead she only checked the recent results. She was pleased and incredibly surprised to realize they were both not only working at the Daily Planet but frequently sharing front page bylines. At fifteen she never would have expected that in a million years, let alone the fact that Clark and Lois had eventually ended up together. She had to struggle not to think too much about them. She was having difficulties not paying attention to the fact that her cousin was living the life she had once envisioned for herself. She pushed the matter aside with great effort, not willing to dwell on it at the moment when there were more important things to research.

She decided to google herself next. Pages and pages of results popped up and Chloe was surprised to discover that almost all of them were in fact about her. She couldn't possibly get through all of them in one night, so she skimmed over most of them, only reading the ones that interested her most. She had, indeed worked for the Daily Planet, with Lois, in fact. She read a few of her articles, amazed at how much her own writing had apparently improved over the years.

She felt a bubbling of hatred for Lex Luthor for firing her. Images of him and Clark flashed before her in succession. Nothing was coherent enough to separate, but she got the gist. The two of them had been friends, but it clearly hadn't lasted.

Clark. The thought of him puzzled her. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she had the strangest feeling there was something very important...something dramatic that she had forgotten about him. She brushed it off eventually when nothing came to her. After all these years, considering they appeared to still be very close, surely at some point one of them had confided something in the other that had been weighty.

Chloe heard a sound from down the hall and it served to turn her attention to a more pressing enigma: the man she was staying with. She recalled his words from earlier in the car, that googling him would produce nothing very flattering, but that only intrigued her more.

Chloe punched in Oliver Queen's name and the first thing she learned was that he was the owner of Queen Industries--a multi-billion operation--and he was _worth_ multi-billion dollars.

She stared at the page in surprise. "I'm very well off?" she repeated his words to her aloud. _Well that's the understatement of a century._ She skimmed article after article, trying to find out how in the world she had gotten involved with someone like him. Yes, he'd apparently dated her cousin for a period of time, but since when did she get to know all of Lois's boyfriends? She allowed for the fact that she and Lois apparently spent way more time together now, but it was still odd...as though a large puzzle piece were missing. Friends with her cousin's boyfriend? Sure, why not? But _working _for him? That was just...weird.

She also thought it was unusual that the first two or three pages of results on him were extremely flattering. They talked about him as an extremely philanthropic man who gave a lot to charities, and they recognized him as a business man to be reckoned with. Then she got a few pages deeper, starting to reach items that dated months and slowly years prior, and she saw what Oliver had meant. There were tabloid articles everywhere. He was depicted as a playboy who frequently got too drunk for his own good. She found photos of him collapsing from too much liquor, of him with three women practically hanging on him, of him walking out of a shady nightclub...it went on and on.

Finally she stopped, recognizing that as with herself, there was simply no way she could get through all of the articles on Oliver Queen. She found herself wondering what had made the change in his life. He'd clearly been determined to throw his life away little over a year ago. What was it that had straightened him out?

She shook her head, frustrated with yet another unsolved puzzle to add to her list.

At that moment, something else caught her attention, however. Two male voices were speaking down the hall. When had someone else shown up? Listening more closely, she realized that the second voice belonged to Clark.

_But that's impossible. He and Lois left for Mexico this morning!_ she thought wildly. An unknown instinct told her to hang back, so she cracked her door a bit and listened quietly.

"Oliver, I'm telling you, I think this is for the best! She's happier like this!"

"How can you possibly dismiss her like that? I know she might seem a bit more carefree, but we both know she doesn't want to be kept in the dark! And for the love of God, she's Watchtower! Maybe you can blow her off on a regular basis, but the rest of the JL can barely tie their shoes without her!"

"Do you have any idea how selfish that is?"

"I"m selfish? Me? You're kidding yourself, right? You just want her to forget everything because of your own stupid guilt! Every time something bad happens you're convinced it's your fault--and most of the time it is, don't get me wrong--but that's your problem, not hers!"

"You don't get it, do you? She's miserable they way her life is! She's better off not being involved in any of this."

"I didn't drag her into this world. She chose it and she can leave any time she wants. Chloe may not be a naive teenager anymore, but she likes what she does. She _wants_ this life. You know that if she knew you were contemplating messing with her memories she'd likely murder you. If there's one thing she will always hate, it's being lied to. Now I recommend you get going before Lois misses you. In the meantime, I'm going to be doing everything I can to help Chloe remember things _on her own_."

"We'll talk about this again later."

"Yeah, sure, Boy Scout."

And suddenly the voices stopped. Chloe walked out of the room and down the hall to find Oliver alone. She looked around, confused. "I heard Clark's voice," she said and Oliver jumped, not having seen her.

Oliver nearly swallowed his tongue at the sight of Chloe. He'd never seen her in sleepwear--although he couldn't say he'd never pictured it--and right now she looked, well, too tempting for her own good. He shook himself. "What?"

"Clark," she repeated. "I heard his voice."

"Clark's in Mexico," Oliver said truthfully.

She glared at him. "I'm aware of that. That's why I thought it was so bizarre that I heard his voice in your living room."

Oliver thought quickly. "I had him on speaker phone."

Chloe wasn't sure she believed him, but really, it was the only thing that made sense, so she accepted it. Besides, she'd more or less just overheard a conversation that proved him to be more concerned about the return of her memory than her own best friend. She tried not to let the concept overwhelm her. "Oh." Then she looked him in the eyes, daring him to lie to her. "What did he have to say?"

Oliver shifted nervously, glancing away from her. "He wanted to know how you were doing. I told him you were sleeping," he said honestly, "which I thought you were. I hope we didn't wake you. We were a little loud," he added sheepishly.

There it was again, that 'I don't trust you at all, you arrogant rich boy' look she'd been shooting him all day. He groaned inwardly. "I wasn't sleeping. I was on the internet."

Oliver's mood lightened. "Oh? Find out anything interesting?"

Chloe wondered whether it would be inappropriate to ask him about the sever change in lifestyle he seemed to have undergone.

He raised an eyebrow at her silence before finally offering her something to drink.

She nodded. "Water would be nice."

He brought her a glass and sat down on the couch. After a while, she sat down on the chair beside it, looking at him thoughtfully.

"I know that look," he told her. "What are you thinking?"

"That you are the strangest person I've ever met," she said truthfully.

Oliver laughed outright. "Seriously? That's the conclusion you came to? I've got news for you, Sidekick: Compared to some of your friends, I'm boring."

Chloe looked startled. "Why do you keep calling me that?" she asked, deciding to dismiss the rest of his remark for the moment.

"Calling you what?"

"Sidekick."

He looked startled. "Huh. I guess I didn't realize I do it. I don't know," he shrugged. "It's a term of endearment, kind of. I think I originally started calling you that because you were threatening and it was a way of putting you in your place, but eventually it just got to be a cute nickname for you." He grinned at her but found that she looked even more confused than before.

"You found me _threatening_? _Me?_" she asked incredulously.

"Hey," he teased. "You'd be surprised." He winked at her and Chloe felt her stomach flip. She would say one thing for Oliver Queen: he was by far the most attractive man she'd ever met. She couldn't pretend that Clark hadn't grown up to be handsome, but Oliver Queen was like...like another species.

Oliver watched her intently, wondering what she was thinking. He hated that she thought he was untrustworthy, and he really hated all the secrets he was keeping from her at the moment. Having secrets from Chloe was just plain unnatural.

"Chloe?"

She lifted her eyes to meet his and was startled by the sudden sincerity and uncertainty there. "Hmm?"

He rubbed his temple. "Look, I need you to understand something about the situation we're in right now."

She frowned.

"I know you think that I'm hiding some things from you." He paused as though waiting for confirmation, but Chloe didn't react. "And you're right. Unsurprisingly. But here's the thing: I've got good reason for it, I swear. You have to remember certain things by yourself. My just telling them to you outright might seriously upset you. You have to take my word for it."

Chloe took it all in, combining it in her mind with the two conversations she'd overheard that day, first with Bart and then just a moment before with Clark. Finally she nodded, accepting that he was telling the truth. It was hard to look at him and not believe he was being honest. But she had to ask something important. "Do you _want_ me to remember everything?"

"Absolutely," he said without missing a beat.

"But--but Clark doesn't, does he?"

Oliver looked surprised at first and then dismayed. "How much of that conversation did you overhear?"

"About--" she hesitated, "about half of it."

He shook his head. "I really should have expected that. You've got a talent for finding things out and 'overhearing' things that no one wants you to." She would have expected him to look irritated, but he looked amused.

"You didn't answer the question," Chloe pointed out.

He glanced at her warily. "Clark is your friend."

"That's not an answer, either."

"Clark is also a jerk."

"That's a bit closer."

He sighed. "No, he doesn't want you to remember everything. There are certain things he'd like to stay forgotten, and if I'm being honest, there are certain things I wouldn't mind you forgetting completely either, but I know you, and I know that you need to know everything. You've been through a lot, Chloe, but you wouldn't be the person you are now if you hadn't. Clark just doesn't seem to realize that this is not a get out of jail free card for him. Bad things happen to everyone, and we need those bad things to define us."

Chloe studied him silently for a long time, until at last she said, "Clark and I aren't what we used to be, are we?"

"No," he said bluntly. "Clark has gotten really idiotic when it comes to you."

"How?"

"He doesn't realize how much you can help him, so instead he shoves you to the side a lot under the pretense of protecting you. Unfortunately, though, shoving you to the side just ends up meaning he does stupid things more often than not."

Chloe frowned, feeling almost dizzy with confusion. "How exactly is it that I would help him?"

Oliver looked down. "I can't tell you, but at least give me credit for not making anything up," he added, hoping it would be sufficient. He raised his eyes to her, and Chloe's heart missed a beat. She had recognized the fact that Oliver wanted her to trust him, but for a moment, she realized how much he apparently cared about her. It was a little difficult to wrap her mind around, having a man like him look at her like that.

She managed a small smile for his sake. "Thanks, Oliver."

"You should go to bed, Sidekick. You've had a really long couple of days," he told her, standing up and going to pull her off the chair. "Let me know if you need anything, all right?"

She nodded vaguely, distracted by how large his hand was compared to hers.

She was about to go to bed when she paused for a moment at the edge of the room. "Oliver?" she glanced at him nervously.

He had turned his attentions to some folder, a serious expression on his face, but when he looked up at her he didn't look annoyed, just raised his eyebrows curiously.

She opened her mouth, not even sure what it was she wanted to ask him. When nothing came out, she shook her head. "Never mind."


	4. Chapter 4

--4--

Chloe's shrieks sent Oliver sprinting down the hall at one in the morning. His heart pounded as he envisioned any number of things attacking her. He burst into her room to find it empty other than her. Chloe was thrashing about in bed, half-asleep, crying and screaming in torment.

He rushed to her side and nearly got his nose broken as he tried to pull her away from the tangle of sheets and into his arms.

"Chloe! Chloe, wake up!"

Slowly her writhing stopped and she seemed to become conscious of the fact that whatever nightmare she had been having was no more than that, but sobs wracked her body.

Oliver shushed her quietly, squeezing her tightly. "Hey, it's okay. It's okay," he told her over and over again.

And then she managed to get the words out, barely coherent through her sobs but enough that Oliver understood.

"I was buried alive."

Shock coursed through his entire body. What a horrible thing to dream! He held her tighter and sat down on the bed, pulling her onto his lap. "It was just a dream, Sidekick. It's okay--"

But she was shaking her head.

"It happened."

His heart stopped.

"In high school," she breathed, her body slowly starting to relax but tears still streaming down her face. "Clark--he found me. I don't know h--how," her throat caught.

"Oh my god," Oliver muttered, shaking his head as he hugged her still more tightly. He knew Chloe's knack for attracting life-threatening situations had begun long before he'd ever known her, but never in his wildest dreams had he imagined her going through something so traumatizing. She'd never once spoken of it. _Not that I blame her_, he thought.

Chloe was still crying audibly. He'd could only imagine what it had done to her when it had been more than just a dream. He felt positively nauseous at the very idea. He stroked her hair soothingly. "It's okay, Chloe. I'm here. Nothing like that will ever happen again. I promise." He kissed the top of her head.

Chloe clung to him desperately, unable to shake the trapped feeling, the knowledge that her death was not only imminent, but would inevitably be slow and painful. She had been unable to convince herself to stay calm.

After a long time her crying ceased. She seemed to have run out of tears as Oliver rocked her slightly, stroking her hair. She laughed weakly.

"I'm sorry I woke you up."

He rolled his eyes. "One of these days, Sidekick, I'm going to put it in your job description that you're not allowed to apologize. Of all the absurd things to say--"

"I couldn't think of anything else," she stopped him. "To say, I mean."

He chuckled quietly. "Don't worry about it. I'd stay awake every night of my life if I had to for you."

Chloe found her cheeks growing hot, grateful it was too dark for Oliver to notice. What a thing for her boss to say to her, even her friend. She slowly latched onto a suspicion that there was clearly something else to her relationship with this man. The way he was holding her--clutching her to his chest while rubbing soothing circles over her back--it didn't have much of a brotherly feel to it.

"Who _are_ you?" she wondered aloud, frustrated with her inability to work it out.

Oliver frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean who on earth are you? How on earth did you end up in my life and what kind of convoluted relationship to we have and how in the world did it get started?" she vocalized her confusion.

He laughed lightly. "When you figure that one out, let me know. I've wondered the same things a million times myself." Seeing that she was sufficiently calm, he started to release her, assuming she wanted to go back to sleep, but she clung to him more tightly still.

"Please don't," she said. She couldn't admit it out loud, but she was afraid to be alone after that dream. Oliver seemed to understand, as he reached to pull the sheet over them before wrapping his arms lightly around her again.

When Chloe woke the next morning she felt disoriented, unable to recall where she was. Images swam around in her mind but slowly the memory of the hospital and her supposedly being hit by a car came back to her.

As all of this seeped back into her memory, she slowly became aware of the fact that she was not alone.

Oliver Queen, in shirtless glory, was lying beneath her, his arms around her just as they had been the night before. Somehow, they had sunk away from their upright position so that she was now lying on his chest.

The memory of her nightmare came back to her and she fought back a shudder. In the night, she had been inexpressibly grateful to Oliver for staying with her. Now that she felt more clear-headed, however, she was embarrassed. She was uncomfortably aware of the fact that maybe he knew her, but she still knew virtually nothing about him. Waking up in his arms felt far too intimate considering that from her perspective, she'd only met him a couple of days ago. She wasn't sure how to handle the situation, so she carefully slid off of him without waking him and went to take a shower.

It was the sound of someone turning on the shower that woke Oliver. At first he wondered how he'd ended up in the guest room until he recalled Chloe and her nightmare. He banished the thought from his mind. The idea of Chloe buried alive was more than he could take. There was nothing he could do about that now, but it called forth in him some mad desire to _do_ something, to rescue her from an incident that had happened years ago. _I'm losing it_, he thought wearily.

As he sat up he had to admit the situation was strange. It had been a long time since he'd spent the night with a woman, and this was not exactly the norm even for that. He glanced at the shut door of the bathroom and suddenly had to shove away the image of Chloe in the shower.

"Oh yeah," he grumbled sardonically, "I should definitely get out of here." He pushed himself off of her bed and headed for the kitchen.

In the shower, Chloe found that her brain simply would not shut off. Determinedly, it recounted everything she had remembered the previous day, categorizing things. The list of answers was short and concise. The list of questions was never-ending and absolutely impossible to sort through.

The list of suspicious circumstances and suspected secrets was ever-growing. She had a strong impression that there was something very unusual about her relationship with Oliver Queen. Besides that, he was definitely hiding something vital from her. Bart Allen working for him and being so informal with him made absolutely no sense. Something was evidently very wrong with her and Clark. Clark was definitely hiding something--not that she had the slightest inclination as to what that might be or whether or not it was the same thing Oliver was hiding. Lois was living Chloe's life for her, and Chloe had no idea how that had happened.

It went on and on. Her head hurt with the effort of trying to remember what on earth was going on with her life.

When she came out--fully dried, fully dressed, and fully dreading another day of confusion and ambiguity--she found Oliver meditating.

She was about to turn away, not wanting to interrupt what was clearly requiring a lot of focus, but he spoke before she could.

"There's breakfast on the table for you if you want it," he said without moving. How he'd even noticed she'd entered the room, she had no idea. Her tongue was still stuck to the roof of her mouth because he was still shirtless.

She glanced over to see a plate of blueberry pancakes. "Have you eaten?"

"Yep."

"Oh."

Oliver opened one eye to look at her inconspicuously. She looked uncomfortable. He couldn't blame her. She was probably a lot more embarrassed about last night than he was. To her it had been like sharing a bed with a stranger. For him it had been strange, but not something to dwell on. He stood up from the mat and walked over to join her. She looked like she wanted company, and he was still concerned about how she felt after remembering what she had.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, grabbing some orange juice and sitting down with her as she picked at the pancakes half-heartedly.

"Weird," she said honestly.

"Fair enough. Are you sure you're okay after last--"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"No problem. Did you at least sleep better after that, though?"

Chloe nodded, her cheeks hot.

"I told Bart to drop by some old newspapers for you. We figured it might help you."

Chloe's face brightened. "Yeah? When's he stopping by?"

"He's already been."

Her face fell. "Oh." Then she frowned. "When? I didn't think I was in the shower that long."

"Bart's extremely efficient. It's why I hired him," Oliver dodged.

"Why did you hire me?" she asked suddenly.

Oliver looked at her in surprise.

"Really. What do I actually do, anyway?"

Oliver looked at her for a long minute. He'd never had to explain himself for hiring Chloe before. It hadn't _needed_ an explanation. "You're extremely skilled with computers. I have yet to ask you for information you couldn't get me. You're incredibly organized, operate exceptionally well under pressure, work really well with the others, and--quite frankly--everyone loves you."

Chloe looked astonished. "Wow." She paused. "Thanks."

He shrugged. "It's just facts. Honestly, I feel bad that I haven't been telling you that on a daily basis. I really should."

"But what do I _do?_" she asked again, not wanting to be sidetracked from this crucial point.

He looked wary. "I told you before."

She glared. "Don't try feeding me that personal assistant line. Even if that's essentially true, it doesn't tell me a thing."

Oliver sighed heavily. "I can _try_ to explain it, but just be aware that this is one of those times where I can't tell you everything."

"Why not?" Chloe interrupted. "It's my job. What's so secret about that?"

"You have no idea how ironic that question is. Look, you wouldn't believe the truth if I told you. Just trust me."

Chloe felt herself losing her patience. "Why should I trust you? I don't even know you!" She regretted the words almost instantly when a tortured look flashed across his face, but she insisted to herself that it was true.

Olive rose from the table, not wanting to look at her. "No, Sidekick. You know me. Better than anyone, actually. You just don't remember me."

"It's the same thing!"

"It's not!" he rounded on her, aware somewhere in the back of his mind that he had no right to lose his temper with her.

"From where I sit it is," she fired back, matching his volume.

"Well from where I sit it's not! You _do_ know me, Chloe. And I know you! Probably better than Lois or Clark by now!"

Chloe looked shocked.

"So do yourself a favor and have a little faith in me, would you? For once in your life, you're actually going to have to trust someone. I know how hard that is for you, but do it."

CHloe didn't know how to respond. "I--" she stammered, "I'm sorry."

A feather could have knocked Oliver down he was so surprised. The Chloe he knew never would have let him get away with that, let alone apologized to him. "Wait...what?" He looked dumbfounded.

CHloe stared at her now room-temperature pancakes miserably. "You're right. You haven't given me any reason not to trust you. And I know Lois never would have suggested I stay with you unless _she_ trusted you implicitly. I'm just really lost. A huge chunk of my life is missing," she looked at him pleadingly.

Oliver's mouth was open. "Did you just tell me I'm right?"

She stared at him.

"You _never_ do that."

She wasn't sure what to say.

"Wow." He paused. "I--I guess I'm sorry I went off on you. I know you're having a rough time. I"m just frustrated because--" he hesitated, "--because I miss you, I guess." He glanced at the clock. "I have to go. Bart's coming back in a while with some company. They'll look after you for the day."

When he returned later he was dressed for a business meeting carrying two ties. "What do you think?" he asked her lightly, holding them up for her and trying to forget that he just been way to harsh with her.

She accepted the lifeline readily, but didn't like either tie. "Don't you have anything green?" she asked. "I feel like that color would suit you best."

Oliver pressed his lips together, trying not to laugh. _I can't wait til she remembers everything so I can make fun of her for that. _He went to get his only green tie, an olive green, understated one. He tied it poorly, and Chloe laughed at him.

"You're not very good at that, are you?"

He shrugged, chuckling. "I've gotten used to you fixing it for me, I think. Wanna do the honors?" he asked, surrendering the poorly shaped knot.

"I've never tied a tie," Chloe said awkwardly.

"Oh," he said. _Way to go_, he thought, noticing that she seemed agitated again as he fixed it himself, paying more attention this time. He was on his way out the door when he paused, turning back to her. "You should be fine with Bart and the others, but call me if you need _anything_ at all. Okay? I don't care what it is. Just call."

She nodded meekly.

"And--well, be careful."

Chloe looked up but he was already gone. What an odd thing to say.


	5. Chapter 5

--5--

Chloe had seated herself to look at the newspapers left for her after clearing away the failure of a breakfast. Almost instantly she found herself fascinated. Metropolis had changed a lot since she was a kid.

She was surprised to discover that not only Lionel, but Lex Luthor was also dead. Oliver Queen, once he'd learned to stay out of trouble, seemed to be having an enormous economic influence on the area, although some sort of energy project--a solar tower of sorts--had apparently collapsed in a freak accident.

She stared at the photo of the building on fire, unable to put her finger on what seemed off about it. She wondered at the idea that the paper had so readily dismissed the idea that it might have been damaged on purpose. That seemed much more likely to her than an accident. _But then, why would anyone have a problem with a project so good for the environment?_ she wondered.

More interesting than business, however, was the crime in the area. Or rather, the lack thereof. Sometime in the last few years, several vigilantes had started making appearances in Metropolis. Some with ridiculous names like the Red-Blue-Blur, which was eventually shortened to The Blur. She realized Lois had been the one to write the story and she felt another pang of envy for her cousin. It was the kind of story Chloe would once have killed for.

There were others, too. Almost all the stories were by Lois, she noted, although she wasn't always sure she pegged them correctly from the get--go. The Green Arrow Bandit, for instance, proved after several papers to be much more than the petty criminal Lois had originally painted him as, and his name was eventually shortened to the Green Arrow--sometimes nicknamed the Emerald Archer.

Chloe found herself staring intently at the police sketch that had appeared in the first article on Green Arrow. Something about it bothered her, as though it weren't quite accurate, but she doubted that even with full memory she would know exactly what the man looked like. _What's the likelihood of that? Although...maybe he rescued me at some point?_ she thought vaguely. Maybe that was why she found him so intriguing.

Regardless, she noticed that ever since the appearance of these two, as well as a few others, crime in Metropolis had decreased dramatically, and the police force seemed to have straightened out quite a bit. _Probably trying to cover their asses_, Chloe thought doubtfully.

She was reading an article on an explosion that had destroyed some Luthorcorp building down by the river about a year ago when Bart came out of nowhere. She clutched her heart.

"You scared me!" she laughed.

"How you feelin', 'licious?" he asked her, kissing her hand gallantly and handing her a tulip, eyes twinkling. "Remember anything else?" He glanced at the newspaper article she was reading and raised an eyebrow.

She shook her head sadly. "I don't think so."

"That's okay," he said confidently. "It'll come back."

Chloe wished she shared his optimism. She looked around the room. "I thought Oliver said you were bringing others."

Bart glanced at her in amusement as he pulled an apple out of Oliver's fridge and swiftly devoured it. "I raced them upstairs. They're on their way."

"Who?" she asked him curiously.

"Some guys who work with us. AC, Victor, and Dinah. Dinah even made it in from Paris for you," he added happily.

"More coworkers?" she asked.

He grinned. "You seriously underestimate your relationship with the people you work with, beautiful. We're like family. Mostly thanks to you," he added thoughtfully.

At that moment, two men and a woman appeared in the doorway.

"Hi, Chloe!" Dinah said pleasantly. "How's the pia mater?"

Chloe shrugged.

AC stepped forward to give her a warm hug so tight in nearly knocked the air out of her. "You scared us to death, you know."

Chloe returned the embrace, surprised by how comfortable she instantly was with it. "So I keep hearing," she laughed.

"Remember me at all?" he asked her, pulling away so she could study him.

Chloe tried to, but after a moment she gave up. He didn't seem upset, though.

"It'll come. You met me your senior year of high school. I bet you remember me before the tin can over there," he joked, looking at Victor.

"Tin can?" she asked.

Victor rolled his eyes, hugging Chloe in turn. "Don't worry about it."

"So what are we doing today?" Chloe asked them, thinking it was pointless to stay in Oliver's apartment so that four people could essentially babysit her.

The boys glanced at Dinah, who rolled her eyes dramatically but grinned. "The boys want to play laser tag. You and I can find something else to do, I'm sure." She winked at Chloe, and Chloe had the impression that Dinah was a sort of fellow-conspirator. _Probably because she's apparently my only girl friend_, Chloe rationalized.

"Sounds like fun," Chloe said.

So she allowed herself to be kidnapped by them for the morning, and eventually found herself sitting at an outdoor cafe across the street from the laser tag building, chatting with Dinah. Chloe discovered she was constantly distracted by Dinah's long brown hair. It didn't suit her at all. She wondered vaguely what the woman would look like blonde.

"So can _you_ tell me what exactly I do for a living?" Chloe asked eventually.

Dinah smirked. "Unfortunately, I've been forbidden to tell you anything of the sort. But trust me, you're really good at what you do. We're kind of a team, me, Oliver, and the boys, and we'd be completely lost without you." She gave Chloe a friendly smile before taking a sip of coffee.

Chloe sighed in frustration and Dinah laughed.

"I told Oliver he was going to have his hands full trying to keep it from you. But you know," she added seriously, "it isn't that none of us wants you to know. We can't tell you directly, but we'll be relieved no end when you figure it out or remember on your own."

Chloe grimaced. "_If_ I remember."

"When," Dinah corrected. She studied Chloe for a while. "This is nice, you know."

"What?"

"You don't usually go out with us. I mean, granted, we're not always all in town at the same time. The job tends to require a lot of travel, but still. You've gotten to be relatively anti-social, Chloe."

Chloe looked surprised, and a bit worried. "Have I? Why?"

Dinah glanced across the street rather than meeting Chloe's eyes. "You've been through a lot. The last couple of years haven't exactly been good to you, Chlo. To be honest, you've developed some very well-justified trust issues, I think."

Chloe remembered what Oliver had said to her that morning: _So do yourself a favor and have a little faith in me, would you? For once in your life, you're actually going to have to trust someone. I know how hard that is for you, but do it._

She looked at Dinah. She had the suspicion that Dinah wasn't going to beat around the bush with her. She'd either tell her the truth or say she couldn't say anything, but there would be no cryptic middle ground with her.

"Dinah?"

"Hmm?"

"Do I trust Oliver? Normally, I mean."

Dinah looked at her thoughtfully. "Yeah, you do. Of course, it took him a while to earn that trust. He went into a downward spiral a while ago--"

Chloe's mind flashed back to her internet search on Oliver.

"--but once you pulled him out of it, he started working really hard to prove himself to you."

Chloe coughed, having swallowed her coffee the wrong way. "Once _I_ pulled him out of it?" she sputtered.

Dinah smiled knowingly. "Surprised?"

"You might say that," Chloe said in a high-pitched voice.

"The man wouldn't be able to tie his shoes without you, Chloe, which he's no doubt mentioned by now. You pretty much saved his life. He was trying to throw it away."

"Why?"

Dinah looked nervous. "He was suffering some major guilt."

"About what?"

At that she smiled ruefully.

"Let me guess," Chloe said irritably. "You can't tell me."

Dinah nodded. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Chloe said unconvincingly. "I wish I understood why my life has to be so mysterious to me. It's my life, after all!" she said, waving her hand in such frustration she accidentally sent her fork flying.

Dinah chuckled and Chloe glared. "Sorry, it's just--well, you'll understand when this is over. Promise."

After a long pause, Dinah gave Chloe a look of deep thought.

"What?" Chloe asked.

Dinah chewed on her lip. "I really want to tell you something."

"What?" she repeated eagerly.

"Don't get all excited. It's nothing that will really help you put the pieces together if I'm being honest, but I've wanted to talk to you about it for a while now."

"Oh. What?"

Dinah narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. "Well, let me ask you something first."

"Okay."

"You've kind of been getting to know Oliver all over again, right?"

"Yeah, basically."

"What do you think of him. First-impression-wise?"

Chloe wasn't sure. What did she think of Oliver? "I don't know."

Dinah raised an eyebrow. "I'm not going to tell him or anything. I'm just curious. Whatever comes to mind first."

Chloe sighed. "Well the first thing I thought was that he was incredibly attractive, and then I wanted to know why in the world my boss would be checking on me at the hospital."

Dinah smiled slightly, and nodded. Since she didn't tease Chloe about thinking Oliver was attractive, Chloe trudged ahead a little more comfortably.

"Right now, it really bothers me that he's insisting on keeping all these things from me, but at least he's been up front about it...unlike Clark," she added bitterly.

"What about Clark?" Dinah asked sharply.

Chloe bit her lip. "Supposedly he and I aren't as good of friends as I would have expected."

Dinah shook her head a little sadly. "You're not. But he'll come around. He cares about you. He's just...a thick headed alien sometime."

"Alien?" Chloe laughed.

Dinah rolled her eyes. "Sometimes the man acts like he's from another planet. Trust me on this one."

Chloe just giggled.

"But back to Oliver," Dinah pressed.

"Well...I guess, even though it bothers me and I'm having a hard time trusting him, I can tell he really cares about me." She thought of the way he had stayed with her during the night, how genuinely concerned he'd been. Then she looked at Dinah hopefully. Perhaps she was going to finally explain the enigma of her relationship with the man.

Dinah had that knowing smile on her face again. "Interesting."

"Why do you ask?"

"Well," she said slowly, "like I said, I've wanted to talk to you about him for a while. I've just known you wouldn't listen. I'm kind of hoping that right now you will since you're..."

"More of a blank slate?" Chloe suggested bitterly.

Dinah laughed and nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Here's the thing," she looked Chloe dead in the eye. "The two of you are driving me absolutely crazy."

"What? Why?"

"You're in love with each other."

Chloe sputtered. "What?"

"You are," Dinah insisted. "Trust me."

_There's that sentence again_, Chloe thought irritably.

"You're both just too stubborn and too blind to admit it to yourselves, let alone each other."

Chloe could only gaze at Dinah in shock. Slowly she recovered. "Don't be ridiculous," she said.

"I knew you'd say that," Dinah laughed, shaking her head. "It's true, believe it or not."

"Okay," Chloe said, trying to be realistic. "I could believe that I would fall for someone like him--it would be hard not to--but what could he possibly see in me?"

"You underestimate yourself."

"I _know_ myself."

"You know your fifteen-year-old self. Don't you think you've changed since then? You're a pretty formidable woman, all things considered, and Oliver has you on a pedestal. He thinks you're amazing. He's just too busy running around trying to save the world to realize he's in love with you."

Chloe felt her whole face turning bright, tomato red.

"Really, Chloe. I'm telling you as a friend. I care about both of you a lot, and I want to see the two of you happy. I'm telling you now because I think you've forgotten a lot of things that would make you run away from this. Right now you aren't so scared of everything. I want you to hang onto that feeling as you regain your memory. Okay?"

Chloe looked at her wonderingly.

The corner of Dinah's lip twitched. "I'm not telling you to throw yourself at him or anything. Just, bear it in mind."

Finally Chloe nodded. Dinah looked relieved and glanced up in time to see the boys exiting the laser tag center. "Oh look. Bart won. What a shock." She rolled her eyes.

Chloe looked up and giggled, seeing that Bart was clearly bragging unbearably to the other two men.

"We'd better go get him before AC and Vic push him in front of a car," she said, dropping some cash for the tab before getting up.

Chloe followed in a cloud of confusion, trying to comprehend what Dinah had told her. It didn't seem possible that she was friends with someone like Oliver, let alone that he was in love with her.

_But then, wasn't I the one thinking there was something else going on with us?_ she reminded herself. _Granted, I didn't expect something like this, but...still. It fits. Sort of_. _In a really weird, unexpected way._

She shook her head and brought her attention to the fact that AC had Bart in a head lock and was talking casually to Dinah over the top of him.

She glanced between Dinah and AC with an amused, intrigued look. Smiling, she realized that maybe Dinah needed a little of her own medicine.


	6. Chapter 6

--6--

Oliver was...confused. Relieved, but confused.

He was relieved because the JL had brought Chloe back in one piece, and they seemed to have had a good time of it.

He was confused because Chloe was carefully and determinedly avoiding eye contact with him. She also appeared to be in a permanent state of embarrassment, her face flushed bright pink. It was really cute but very disconcerting because he didn't know the cause, only that it was clearly directly related to him. She was fine around the others.

He was disappointed to hear that she hadn't recognized anyone else. Yesterday it had seemed that memories were coming back to her steadily. Today, from what she said, nothing had returned to her. He was worried that perhaps after her nightmare the previous night she was afraid to recall anything else, that she might be repressing things now.

With these thoughts flitting through his head, Oliver watched Chloe from across the room. She was laughing animatedly at something Bart had just whispered in her ear. He looked pleased with himself.

He was jealous of Bart. That was evident even to him. How could he not be? She might not remember everything about Bart, but at least she knew him. There was nothing more maddening than the lack of recognition in her eyes when she looked at Oliver.

_When she _does_ look at me_, he reminded himself, his mind going full circle to the fact that she now refused to do so. He was so immersed in trying to solve this conundrum that he jumped when Dinah addressed him.

"So when do the intrepid reporters return?" she asked casually, following his line of sight to Chloe.

"Couple more days."

"I assume Chloe will go stay with Lois or Clark when they do get back?"

"Probably. If she isn't back to herself by then," he added without much conviction.

"How did it go last night?" she asked, turning to him in concern.

Oliver shut his eyes in weariness.

"That bad?" she asked sympathetically.

"Did you know Chloe was once buried alive?"

Dinah's hand flew to her mouth and her horrified eyes turned to Chloe. "Oh my God."

"Yeah," Oliver said through gritted teeth. "She had a nightmare about it last night. Shook her up pretty badly."

"I would think so," Dinah said. "When was it?"

"Back in high school. Clark rescued her but she doesn't remember how."

Dinah nodded. "Life certainly likes to pick on that woman, doesn't it?"

"Apparently." Then he looked at Dinah sharply, something occurring to him. "Did she remember anything about me today?"

"Not that she told me. Why?"

"Are you sure?"

"Fairly."

"She's acting strangely. Won't look at me." His eyes returned to Chloe, who was now deep in conversation with Victor.

"Oh?" Dinah asked, amusement in her tone.

"Yeah."

"Well, she does have the mindset of a fifteen-year-old right now, essentially," Dinah smiled, rationalizing Chloe's behavior.

"Meaning?"

"Think, Ollie. What did it mean in high school when a girl wouldn't look you in the eye?"

Oliver gave her a confused look.

"Wow, you are dense," Dinah laughed, heading to pour herself a drink. "Or maybe you just never noticed the shy ones. I guess that's pretty likely, too."

Chloe glanced up in time to see Oliver watching Dinah with a confused look. His eyes then turned to lock on hers before she could look away. Chloe's face grew hot and she immediately wrenched her eyes back to Victor, who was updating her on the latest technology. She was starting to wonder what anyone needed her theoretical computer skills for with Victor around. She smiled at his enthusiasm.

As she realized that the others would be leaving soon, Chloe feigned sleepiness and excused herself to bed early. It was a way to avoid being left alone with Oliver. She knew it was irrational and that she would have to face him in the morning, but for the moment she needed to be alone to figure out how she felt about what Dinah had told her.

Before she had an opportunity to do so, however, her cell phone rang. She smiled when the screen revealed Lois's name.

"Hey, Lois! How's Mexico?"

"Hot. And the water is gross. But otherwise Clark and I are enjoying ourselves. I'm calling about you, though. How are you? Memory back yet? Oliver treating you right?"

"I'm fine. My memory isn't fully returned, but I got a few things back yesterday, not so much today."

Lois didn't fail to noticed how Chloe avoided the last question. "What about Oliver? Are you all right staying with him?"

"He's fine. It's fine. I don't know. It's just weird."

"I'm sorry, cuz. I promise I'll come rescue you when we get back. I know he can be a bit of a twit sometimes. Tell him I told him to be on his best behavior for you."

"He's been fine, Lo," Chloe tried to assure her cousin.

"Yeah, yeah. Did he at least make you blueberry pancakes like I told him to?"

"Y--yeah," Chloe replied, startled.

"Good. Aren't they the best? I swear you wouldn't expect that man to have any useful cooking skills whatsoever, would you?"

"No, I guess not," Chloe said, thinking of the pancakes she'd barely touched that morning with dismay. She hoped she hadn't hurt his feelings.

"Well, don't worry too much, Chloe. Your memory will come back all right, and you and Oliver can have a good laugh about this later."

"Lois?"

"Yeah?"

"What do I _do_ for Oliver?"

"How the hell would I know? You never talk about it. You just claim that you do a lot of research and run interference for him with the press."

Chloe's heart fell at the realization that apparently she kept her job a secret from Lois. _Great. Why would I hide it from her of all people? And what on earth is there to hide?_

"Well, listen, Chloe. I have to go. Roaming charges and all, but I wanted to make sure you were all right. Call me if you need anything. Clark said he'll talk to you tomorrow. He's caught up at the moment."

"O--okay."

"Love you, cuz."

"Love you, too, Lo. Take care."

She hung up with a sigh of exhaustion. What in the world was going on here? She wanted to march outside and demand to know what all the secrecy was about. It was maddening.

Chloe tried to sleep. She honestly did, but sleep simply would not come. She tossed and turned, thoughts of Oliver plaguing her along with her confusion over Clark. It didn't help that she was subconsciously afraid to fall asleep again.

Finally, unable to stay in the room any longer without losing her mind, Chloe crept out of bed. She put on her clothes and quietly left the room. The apartment was dark and Oliver was evidently asleep. She grabbed her coat and left, wishing the lift made less noise. She wasn't running away, per se. She just needed to get out, to get some fresh air to clear her head. She felt trapped.

Chloe made a point of staying on the same street as Oliver's apartment, under the safety of bright street lamps. She wasn't trying to be reckless or fool-hearty, she just had to get away from that apartment. Everything in there screamed that she should recognize it even though she didn't.

At the end of the street she sat down on a bench under a lamp and look up at the night sky. She couldn't see any stars, but there was a moon out. She gazed at it, thinking how old the moon had gotten since the last time she remembered looking at it. There was no one around, but in the distance she heard the sound of an oncoming motorcycle.

Then, all at once, without realizing it was what she needed, Chloe started to cry.

"Why me?" she demanded of no one, her sobs growing more and more self-pitying. She hugged her sides, willing herself to remember, but nothing came. It was like having the mute-button hit on her brain. A giant void seemed to be settling in on her and she was terrified that it would never go away entirely.

"A little late to watch the sun set, isn't it?" Chloe nearly shrieked in surprise when she heard the deep voice behind her. She turned around frantically to see the man she had been studying in the police sketch just that morning. He sounded angry. Instinctively she stood and backed away from him. "Care to explain what you're doing out here?"

Her heart thudding in her chest, Chloe glanced nervously around. "I don't see why I have to explain myself to you."

Oliver stopped advancing on her, realizing that she was poised for flight. His relief at finding her out there was immense. When he'd realized she was gone, he'd immediately assumed the worst and the GA gear had been donned without a second thought. He thanked God she'd taken her cell phone with her so he could follow the tracking device in it.

_I guess those things were a good idea, after all, Chloe._

"What do you want?" Chloe asked, working up her nerve.

"I was going to take you home." Oliver thought seriously about just telling her who he was, but he wasn't sure how she'd handle it. Now was definitely not the time to overwhelm her with information, certainly not when he had just found her crying alone on a street corner in the middle of the night. She might make a run for it.

"I can get there on my own just fine, thanks."

"You don't trust me."

Chloe disliked the smirk on his face, as though he'd been expecting it. "I don't know you."

The smirk vanished for a brief moment. "I heard you had some memory loss."

Her eyes widened. "How would you know that?"

"How do you think you got to the hospital after the car hit you?" he asked her. "I'm a friend, Chloe." He took a step closer to her.

Chloe couldn't believe what she was hearing. She _knew_ him? How was that possible? She wasn't sure she believed it. But he knew her name somehow. She shook herself. It didn't make any sense. How would she know someone like him? She looked up and jumped at the realization that he was right in front of her now.

"It's okay, Chloe. I'd never hurt you. You can trust me."

"Why does everyone keep telling me that? Like it's going to make a difference!" Chloe exclaimed, losing her temper. His smirk only grew, as though he'd expected that, too, and was only testing her.

"You're the one who ran away. I'm just here to help," he pointed out. Chloe had to resist a shiver. He was wearing some device that distorted his voice, his face was hidden in shadow, and she didn't like how close he was to her. He clearly felt completely assured of himself around her.

"I don't need help and I don't want help. I don't want to go back."

"Why not?" she heard the tone of his voice change dramatically, but she couldn't decipher what the difference meant.

"I just don't. Not now. So leave me alone." She took a step back but his hand shot out, automatically taking her arm. "Let go," she glared.

"You know, if you remembered me, we wouldn't be having this problem."

She glared at him. "If I remembered _anything_ I wouldn't be out here right now."

"I figured as much. Let me take you home, Chloe."

"I don't even know where I live."

"I meant to Queen's place."

"I told you--"

"I know you don't want to go back," he said roughly, "but you're safe there. You shouldn't be out here alone."

"What do you care?" she challenged. She let out a small gasp of surprise when he pulled her closer to him, both his hands holding her arms now.

"A lot," he ground out, clearly reigning in his emotions. Seeing the frightened look on her face he loosened his grip and released her with one hand, moving it to wipe the tear stains from her face. "I don't like seeing you like this."

Chloe couldn't explain it but for some reason she melted. With an inexplicable conviction that she was safe with him, she dropped her head to his chest in weariness. "That makes two of us," she muttered sadly. Closing her eyes, she breathed in the smell of leather, and her head suddenly started spinning with familiarity. "Who are you?" She was asking herself more than him, but he still answered.

"I'm a friend, Chloe. I told you. It's okay." His arms wrapped around her protectively, and Chloe shuddered. Her heart started beating faster again, but for a reason very different from fear. His hands rubbed her back soothingly, trying to ease the tension there. "I know you don't want to, but you can trust me."

Chloe started to cry again. "I wish people would stop saying that. It just makes me feel guilty. How do I know you?" she asked, determined to solve this puzzle before she lost the opportunity.

"You work with me."

"_What?"_

"How do you think I knew how to find you just now? We look out for each other."

Chloe started to pull away from him, but he didn't release her.

"You can't know how much it hurts me to have you look at me like you've never seen me before," he told her, leaning forward so that his face was close to hers. Chloe cursed the streetlamp that blinded her view of his face, casting a shadow on him and not allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness. "Let me take you home, Chloe."

After a long moment's hesitation, Chloe nodded, giving in to the warmth and safety he seemed to provide, giving in to him. He drew her closer to him and the next thing she knew she was being swept into his arms and carried over to a motorcycle. She vaguely recalled hearing one in the distance. She hadn't realized how close he'd been. She was beyond caring, though. She breathed in the smell of the leather he wore again. She knew it was familiar, like a name on the tip of her tongue, but still nothing came. He brought her back to Oliver's building and got off with her.

She stood before him expectantly, waiting for him to say something, anything that might reveal who he was or how she really knew him.

He stepped close to her, too close for her own comfort, but she refused to give ground.

"Don't run away again," he told her sternly.

"Do I always let you boss me around?" she fired back.

To her surprise, he chuckled, a deep, sensual sound that vibrated through her body. "No, I guess you don't, but--"

"Trust you?" she asked exasperatedly.

"Yes. It isn't safe out here for you. There are people who know about us and would use you to get to me. I don't want you wandering alone until you remember us."

"Us?"

He nodded.

"What are we?"

"We're friends."

"Why does that sound absurd to me?"

"Because it is."

"Then what are we really?"

His mouth opened and closed in confusion, and in this light, Chloe was able to see just a portion of his jaw. It was strong and well defined, and she thought she saw a small cleft in his chin, but it was difficult to tell. She realized that she barely came up to his jaw. He was tall, very tall. "The truth? I have no idea. I just know I'm lucky to have you, and that I need you to get your memory back as soon as possible."

Chloe found her breath catching in her throat, but he let go of her.

"Go inside, Chloe. And please, don't run away again. Be careful."

She searched his face, trying to see beneath the hood only to discover there were sunglasses there to further impede her view, but finally she nodded, and, keeping her eyes on him, she walked back into the building and took the lift up to Oliver's apartment.


	7. Chapter 7

--7--

Oliver had to think fast to insure he beat Chloe to the apartment. Using the zipline, he came in through the window of the guest room after landing on several neighboring roof tops. As quickly as possible he rushed to his own room, ripped off the costume and shoved it under the bed before throwing on his pajama pants and rushing from the room to the kitchen, just as Chloe was stepping off the lift.

When she saw him there she jumped anxiously, clearly having thought he would still be asleep.

_Come on, Sidekick. Remember me. Realize it was me,_ he pleaded silently with her, his chest rising up and down from the adrenaline.

Chloe opened her mouth several times as though to speak, but none of her attempts were successful. Finally, Oliver realized he was going to have to keep up the charade a while longer. She didn't remember him. He comforted himself with the fact that for a moment down on the ground, she had looked as though she remembered Arrow...at least on some level.

"What happened to you?" he asked her, and Chloe saw the anxiety in his eyes. "I was about to call the police."

"I'm so sorry. I didn't think you'd notice I'd left."

Oliver crossed the room to her, wrapping his arms around her and resting his chin on the top of her head. "I knew the moment you were gone, Chloe. You scared the life out of me."

He sounded like he had when she was in the hospital, Chloe noted. Guilt coursed through her at the realization of how much fear she'd caused him. "I'm so sorry," she repeated earnestly. "I just had to get out of here."

"What happened?" he asked her quietly, his hands threading into her hair as he held her head to his chest.

"I couldn't sleep. I felt like I was losing my mind and then I realized I'd already lost it and I just had to get out. I didn't mean to scare anyone, and I was going to come back."

"Chloe, do you have any idea--" Oliver stopped himself. He wasn't going to guilt trip her anymore. He couldn't tell her that he'd envisioned having lost her, that he thought she'd been taken from right under his nose when he was supposed to be protecting her. "Please don't do it again."

"I won't," she whispered.

Oliver tipped her head up to make her look him in the eye. "I can't lose you, Chloe. I just can't. You've got to come back to me, remember me."

Before Oliver knew what he was doing, he leaned in and kissed her. He felt her sharp intake of breath and the way her body went rigid with shock, but in the next moment she kissed him back, her hands rising to his chest and slowly moving around his neck. Oliver moved his lips almost desperately against hers, releasing all the fear she'd put him through. She'd said a moment ago that she was going to come back. At least that meant she hadn't been running away from him. She'd just needed to clear her head.

Suddenly Chloe pulled away. She looked frightened.

"Chloe--"

His eyes were pleading with her, but Chloe didn't know what to say. Was Dinah right? Was she or had she been in love with Oliver? It was starting to feel like it, but it only terrified her all the more. How could she be in love with someone she didn't remember?

She shook here head, backing away from him. Her eyes darted away. "I'm sorry I scared you," she said before fleeing the room, leaving Oliver to wonder what had just happened.

Chloe walked in a daze to her room, shut the door behind her and leaned against it, her eyes closed as she drank in the fresh air in her room--Oliver had apparently opened the window, though she couldn't imagine why.

_What just happened?_ she asked herself silently. She knew what Dinah had told her, but...it was just too difficult to wrap her mind around, at least not in its current condition. Although, Chloe couldn't really imagine that even _with_ her full memory she would believe it. _He was worked up_, she told herself. _I scared him half to death and he just got caught up. We both got carried away._

She shook her head wearily, scared of how much she wanted run back out there after him, not even noticing that this new development had successfully shoved all thoughts of the Green Arrow to the back of her mind. Instead of giving into her impulse she pulled herself over to bed, knowing that she was now thoroughly exhausted, more than enough to sleep for an eon. She shivered, pulling the covers more tightly around her. She should have closed the window, but now she was too tired and too comfortable to get out of bed to shut it.

When Chloe drifted into sleep, she dreamt of a barren, snowy wasteland and a castle made of ice, which slowly turned into a fortress, consisting of giant spears of ice. She suddenly saw herself, making her way toward it, struggling to stay warm.

And then Clark was there, picking her up from the ground where she was fighting not to freeze to death. And Clark raced her to a hospital...brought her there on foot.

Chloe shot up in bed, gasping for air. "Clark!" she whispered. She reached for her phone and called Clark for confirmation of what she'd just remembered.

Meanwhile, Oliver had been having a dream of his own, more heated than Chloe's and much more restless. He nearly knocked her over when she unceremoniously shook him awake.

"Holy--what's going on?" He swallowed tightly, realizing what he'd been dreaming about. Even _with_ her memory, Chloe would kill him if she knew. He suppressed a small smirk--or was it more of a nervous laugh?--and focused on calming himself down.

Chloe was positively mirthful. "I remember high school!"

"What?" he stared at her.

"Everything up until sometime around graduation. And I vaguely remember my first day of class at MetU."

Chloe was practically floating she was so happy and relieved. She'd entirely forgotten what had happened before she fell asleep until she noticed the look in Oliver's eyes.

He sat up in bed and embraced her happily.

"That's fantastic, Sidekick. You remember everything?"

Chloe nodded, pulling away from him slightly. "Four years back in only a few hours."

"What do you remember about Clark?"

Chloe's knee-jerk reaction was to lie, but on the phone a moment ago Clark had told her that Oliver knew, and it was safe to talk to him about it.

"I remember everything. Krypton included."

The immense relief on Oliver's face warmed her to the core. He was genuinely happy for her. Her conversation with Clark had been strained. He'd confirmed everything, but she could tell there was a part of him that hadn't wanted her to remember. She just didn't understand why. Did he not like having her in on his secret? Or was it more about what Oliver had told her before--that Clark was guilty about pulling her into his world. She remembered every life threatening situation she'd been through in high school, and she had to admit, it didn't seem likely that the pattern had broken later on. Clark had had a habit of blaming himself. Was that why he had sounded sorry she remembered? Because he didn't want her to remember all the horrible things he felt guilty over? She closed her eyes banishing the thought for the moment. She just wanted to be happy she remembered for now.

"What are you thinking about?" Oliver asked.

Chloe opened her eyes to find him studying her. "That you should put a shirt on," she joked.

He raised an eyebrow, and, even though he knew she was kidding, he got up to find a T-shirt. Pulling it over his head, he said, "What are you really thinking about?"

Chloe breathed a small sigh of relief as all that muscle vanished from her sight. It was easier to look at him and concentrate when he was properly clothed. "I was wondering why Clark is sorry I remember his secret."

"Because he wants you to live a so-called normal life, even if it isn't what you want."

"How do you know what I want?" Chloe asked automatically.

"Do we have to go over that again?" he asked her, a smile tugging the corner of his lips as he sat back down on the bed. "Let's put it this way. Are _you_ sorry you remember?"

"No."

"Of course not. Because you _need_ to know what's really going on around you. You don't like walking around with blinders on, pretending there's nothing more serious in the world than global warming."

Chloe nodded, surprised by how accurately he'd described it.

Oliver couldn't stop himself. "Do--"

"No, Oliver. I'm sorry. I still don't remember you. Almost nothing after high school. But it will come back, right? This much did."

Oliver nodded. He had to believe that. She had to remember him and soon. He looked at her now, the way her eyes kept darting nervously to the door, as though she were regretting coming into his bedroom--for obvious reasons. He hated this. He needed her back 100% herself. After she'd left him earlier, he'd realized the truth. It was as though a thunderbolt had struck him...or maybe like being hit by one of his own arrows. He was desperate to get her back, his Chloe. She _was_ his. He knew it now. He had been thinking of her as belonging to him for ages without consciously realizing it. Why else would he take it so hard that she didn't remember him? Everyone else missed her, but no one was as upset or frustrated as he was.

"Chloe, about...earlier."

Chloe stood up, edging toward the door. "It's okay. You got carried away. We both did."

He started to get up as well. "That's not--"

"You don't have to make excuses for me, Oliver. It's okay."

"Chloe, would you--"

"Goodnight, Oliver," she said as she left the room, closing the door firmly after her.

Oliver was lost. That was all there was to it. He could only explain the fact that she had just bolted from him as quickly as possible by assuming that she regretted what had happened.

The real question was whether she would still regret it if she remembered him. Was she pushing him away purely because she felt she didn't know him? Or was it a more deep-rooted conviction that she didn't want him that way?

"God, Chloe," he muttered shaking his head dismally. "You'd better get your memory back soon, so we can legitimately talk about this." He collapsed back on his bed again and prepared himself to not get any sleep the rest of the night.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Comment: I had someone mention that dreams aren't necessarily the way certain memories come back to people, and I thought I'd go ahead and say that of course I am no expert on amnesia, and I know the chapter was a bit of a stretch, but from what I understand, usually the senses help memories return, which is why I had the whole ordeal about it being cold in her room reminding her of how she nearly froze in the arctic. (Personally, I've had dreams about plunging into an icy lake or snow-skiing purely because my bedroom was too cold.)**

**Anyway, a bit of a stretch, I know, but as always with fiction, thank you for suspending your disbelief.**

**Also thanks for all of the comments and responses. I have had a load of positive feedback for this story, which was honestly the opposite of what I expected when I decided to write a memory-loss story. Thanks everyone!**

**BlueSuedeShoes**

--8--

The next morning Oliver followed Chloe's lead and pretended nothing had happened the night before save the return of her memory. He walked into the kitchen to find that she was already awake. She was pouring over the newspapers Bart had dropped off the other day, flipping through them again and again, and--he noted with interest--constantly returning to the police sketch of the Green Arrow.

"Anything else come back to you?" he asked casually, trying not to betray his desperation.

She shook her head, not looking up from the paper. "Is Clark the Blur?"

"Yep."

Now she looked up. _"Really?"_

Oliver nodded, pulling out a box of cereal. "Can I get you anything?"

"No thanks. When did he become the Blur?"

"A couple of years ago."

"Wow." She turned back to the paper. Then, after a moment, she seemed to steel herself. "What do you know about the Green Arrow?" Chloe suspected that perhaps her knowledge of Clark's identity was the reason the Green Arrow claimed she knew him. She must have met him through Clark. And if Oliver knew about Clark, then there was a solid chance he knew the second hero as well. She planned on putting the same question to Clark later when he called.

"Why do you ask? Did you remember something about him?" he asked, feeling like a bit of an idiot. It was bizarre to pretend to Chloe that he wasn't the Green Arrow.

"No, I just...I'm curious. I had a strange feeling I'm supposed to know him." She carefully skirted around the fact that she'd had a run in with the mysterious man the night before.

Oliver looked sharply at her, annoyed by her lack of honesty. "Oh?"

She shrugged it off. "Yeah. But oh well. It's probably because I apparently wrote an article or two on him. Whatever."

Oliver smirked bitterly to himself. She was good. Anyone other than him would have bought that line easily.

Chloe looked up at Oliver thoughtfully now. "Question."

"What's that?"

"Why and how do you know about Clark?"

Oliver hadn't been prepared for that one, although he should have been. He bought himself some time by shoving a bite of cereal into his mouth. After he swallowed he answered carefully. "Well, the kid doesn't exactly wear a mask. Anyway, he and I have helped each other out of a tight spot here and there."

Chloe chewed on her tongue, her eyes seeming to search Oliver's. He could tell she was trying to draw more information out of him, to determine whether there _was_ anymore information.

"So Clark and Lois get back in two days, and you have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. You're pretty much free today. What do you want to do?" he asked, pulling the subject away from dangerous waters.

"What are you going to do?"

He shrugged. "I don't have any meetings today, just a function this evening."

"Oh." She felt guilty for secretly hoping he'd be gone like the day before. She was almost afraid to be alone with him.

"So..." he encouraged her.

"Umm...I don't know. What do I do for fun?"

He looked up, surprised by the question. "Erm...."

Chloe was reminded of what Dinah had said the other day about being anti-social. "Am I really that much of a recluse?" she asked wearily.

Oliver looked sympathetically at her but didn't answer.

"What happened? Everyone keeps telling me I've been through a lot. What was so devastating? And _don't_ tell me you can't tell me!" she cut him off, seeing the words already forming on his lips.

Oliver closed his mouth and looked down. With a frustrated sound, Chloe stood up and left the table.

"Where are you going?" he called after her.

"I'm getting out of my pajamas and putting on some clothes, Oliver. And then I'm going to call Lois and ask her what movies I saw in the last couple of years that I liked. And then I'm going to order them on your TV."

Oliver chuckled, shaking his head. "Oh, Chloe," he muttered. Then he sobered. How would Chloe react if she remembered Brainiac and Davis and Jimmy and everything else that had happened in the last couple of years? He didn't think he could bear to see the pain in her eyes again. It was what he had run away from once, drowning himself in booze and hiding from her more than anyone. Would she be able to forgive him a second time for the role he had played in bringing her tragedy about? It had astonished him the first time alone.

_Maybe Clark has a point_, he thought bitterly. _Maybe Chloe's better off not remembering all that...not remembering me._

He stood from the table, clearing away his cereal bowl and Chloe's plate. He glanced at it and realized she'd found the leftover blueberry pancakes in his freezer and reheated them. A small smile graced his features.

Chloe did stay in and watch movies all morning. Oliver, in the meantime, was researching Checkmate and some of the JL's new intel on that organization. His head was starting to hurt as he reviewed file after file, trying to figure out what these people were really after. What did they want with heroes? Why had they kidnapped Chloe?

Chloe. This was her job, not his. She was the one who always put the puzzle pieces together. Victor might suffice as a temporary Watchtower the next time they went on a mission, but the truth was they needed her back.

He glanced over to where she was sitting on his couch. He wondered how it would be if she never regained all of her memory. She would undoubtedly figure out the Green Arrow all over again. She'd done it once before, hadn't she? He'd seen the look on her face over breakfast. She was determined to solve that riddle. He suspected she might even be on to the fact that Oliver was somehow involved. He wouldn't be sorry when she did figure it out. It would be nice to restore that part of their relationship at least. And maybe then he could convince her to take up her old job. Would the computer skills come back to her without her memory? It was debatable but doubtful. She could relearn, though. Victor could help her. Perhaps they could have Watchtower back without her having to re-experience the pain of Doomsday all over again.

He shook his head. That wasn't fair. Hadn't he been the one telling her he wanted her to regain _every_ memory, no matter how dark? She'd been grateful to him for that, upset by the fact that Clark wanted the opposite.

The realization that he was starting to think like Clark bothered him, and he pushed away from the table, recognizing that he was not going to make any more progress with Checkmate. At least not for the moment.

He glanced at Chloe again. "I'm going out for a minute," he told her. "Are you all right? Do you need anything?"

Chloe pulled her eyes away from the TV screen. "No, I'm fine."

Oliver grabbed his black leather jacket and left the apartment, Chloe's eyes following him as he did so, wondering where he was going.

Chloe sighed when the door to the lift shut, and she slumped into the couch. This was...weird. Everything around her was weird. She was so glad she remembered Clark and his double life. So many puzzle pieces had fallen into place once she regained her memories of high school, yet so many mysteries remained, most of them centering on Oliver.

She got up to see what he had been working on on his computer, her heart thudding slightly like it always did when she was sticking her nose in other people's business.

Most of the files were encrypted, though, and she didn't think she had time to break the codes before Oliver got back. She wasn't even sure she could. She had some moderate hacking skills, but this looked way too advanced for her. All she could gather was that most of the files had to do with something called Checkmate.

Suddenly Chloe had a vision of an older man, dying before her, his final word, "Check."

But as quickly as it had come, she lost it again, as though it had been water slipping through her fingers, and she couldn't remember it any more.

She shook her head. What was Checkmate and why was Oliver so intently researching it? She thought perhaps it was business related, but when she fetched her own computer to google them, it came up virtually fruitless.

"Checkmate..." she rolled the word around in her mouth, struggling with its disconcerting familiarity. Finally, though, when nothing came to her, she gave up. Closing her computer, she realized she heard the lift moving, meaning that Oliver was returning. She fled the room and landed back on the couch, as though she had never moved. She wanted to rewind the movie, but didn't want to risk him noticing.

_Well done_, she scolded herself irritably. She hadn't learned a thing.

Oliver entered the room with two coffees in his hand and the first thing he noticed was that his laptop was open again. He cocked an eyebrow in amusement as he brought his eyes over to Chloe. For a moment he wondered whether or not to call her out on her snooping, how she would react if he did, but he decided against it. The very fact that she _was_ sneaking around--investigating him, essentially--was a promising sign that she was returning to a Chloe he was more familiar with. He wondered whether she'd learned anything useful.

Allowing himself a quiet chuckle he walked over and handed her the coffee he'd brought her.

She looked surprised. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," he said, sitting down beside her. He hadn't taken off his jacket and Chloe involuntarily breathed in the smell of leather again.

"You smell good," she said randomly.

He laughed. "Thanks?"

She laughed, too. "Sorry. I don't know. For some reason I like the smell of leather."

Oliver's eyebrows shot up, but she didn't notice, her eyes glued to the TV screen now. Finally, accepting that that was all she was going to say about it, he turned to the screen as well. "What are you watching?"

"The Warrior Angel movie that Lois says they filmed part of on the Kent farm. It's really not too bad. Very summer blockbuster-y, but good." She sipped her coffee. "Lois said I like superhero movies a lot," she added, an eyebrow lifting slightly. "No doubt a direct result of being friends with Clark Kent," she said.

Oliver nodded. "Probably." He hadn't known that about her. He had no idea what kind of movies she liked or disliked.

After a while Chloe spoke up again, her eyes never leaving the movie. "Stop that."

"What?" he asked, grinning.

"Watching me watch the movie. It's unnerving and very annoying."

"Aw," he teased. "Why? It's such fun."

"It's weird. Cut it out."

Smirking, he reluctantly drew his eyes off her and back to the screen. "Fine, fine."

When the movie was over Chloe turned back to him. "What time is the doctor's appointment tomorrow?"

"Not until the afternoon. 12:30, I think."

"Thanks." She stood from the couch and went to throw out her now empty coffee cup. "Thanks for the coffee, by the way."

"You're welcome." Oliver watched her and then steeled himself. "How do you feel about going out tonight?"

She looked up, surprised. "What?"

"I have that...function I told you about. Do you want to come? You don't have to," he added quickly. "I can absolutely find someone else," he cursed how stupid that sounded aloud, "but I thought maybe you'd like to get out for the evening."

Chloe eyed him warily. "What _kind _of function?"

"Nothing major."

She raised an eyebrow at him suspiciously.

"Charity Ball," he conceded.

Chloe closed her eyes, thinking. On the one hand, it was a very tempting offer. On the other hand, it was a very bad idea to go on what sounded like a date with Oliver. She bit her lip.

_Then again,_ she asked herself, _why is it such a bad idea? I mean, what would it really hurt? Maybe I was wrong about last night. I don't know. It still seems strange that he would think of me like that...but he's asking isn't he? I can't be certain I'll ever regain my memory completely--although last night certainly gives reason to hope--but regardless, maybe I should try actually getting to know him. Everyone insists we're such good friends..._

"Why not?" she said aloud. "Although I must say I don't think I saw formal wear among the clothes Clark left for me," she added.

"That's fine. I'll have something brought in for you."

Chloe looked surprised. "No way."

"But you said--"

"I'm not letting you buy me a dress."

Oliver rolled his eyes. "Why not?"

"Because--" she struggled, "because it's inappropriate and...and--"

"You don't have a legitimate reason, do you?"

"No. But I still don't want you to do it. What if I took Dinah over to the Talon so we can find something I already own?" Chloe was surprised by her own genius. It would be a perfect opportunity to scope out the Talon for some clues to her more recent past.

Oliver looked wary. "You'll take Dinah with you?"

"Sure."

He scratched the back of his head. What could he do? It wasn't as though she were his prisoner or something. She was free to go if she wanted. _She'll be safe with Canary_, he added to himself. "Yeah sure. Why not?"

And that was how Chloe ended up at the Talon, helping Dinah raid her closet.

...or, more accurately, Dinah was raiding Chloe's closet while Chloe inconspicuously explored the changes in the room compared to what she remembered. The lack of photographs surprised her. She'd always liked keeping lots of picture frames around in high school. There were none to be found now. She had the strange inclination that they had been stored away for some unknown reason--as though she hadn't wanted to look at them.

_Great_, she thought, _even _I'm_ keeping secrets from me now._

"What about this one?" Dinah interrupted her thoughts, holding up a bright pink dress.

"Definitely not," Chloe made a face. It was the dress she had worn to homecoming with Clark.

Dinah hung the dress up again. "Yeah, pink isn't really your look, is it? Too Barbie."

Chloe laughed. "What color do you think I _should _wear?"

Dinah arched a brow at her, eyes dancing. "Definitely green. Let's see if--"

Dinah's words were cut short by someone breaking in the door.

"What the--" Someone grabbed Chloe from behind, and instinct took over as Chloe struggled against her assailant, nearly breaking free before a second person joined the battle.

"Chloe, cover your ears!" Dinah shout and Chloe glanced up in time to see Dinah begin to scream, an unearthly shriek filling the room. Chloe's hands went to her ears instantly, trying to block out the sound. What on earth was going on? Suddenly the noise which had brought two of their attackers to their knees was abruptly cut short when the third man launched himself at Dinah, shooting a strange glue-type liquid over her mouth. Dinah tried to yank the stuff off her face but didn't have a chance as her assailant knocked her over.

The last thing Chloe saw was Dinah grappling with the attacker before Chloe felt a sting on her neck. Within moments everything went black.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Oliver pulled out his cell phone and saw that it read Dinah Lance on the screen. He answered it, but before he could say anything, Dinah spoke frantically.

"Oliver, I lost Chloe."

"YOU WHAT?"


	9. Chapter 9

--9--

When Chloe came to, she was in a strange white room, tied to a chair with a TV screen in front of her.

The situation awakened something in her, as though her brain were fighting to remind her of something important.

Where was she? And why on earth would anyone kidnap her?

Then suddenly she realized that with her connection to the Blur as well as her supposed connection to the Green Arrow, there were a hundred-and-one reasons for someone to kidnap her.

_But where am I?_ Chloe asked herself. The screen before her made her nervous. _What are they going to do--brainwash me?_ Chloe wondered wildly.

"Glad to see you're awake, Watchtower." Chloe started when a woman appeared on the screen on the screen. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever come to."

"Who are you and why am I here?" Chloe asked, straining against her bonds.

The woman answered her coolly. "You can cut the act."

"What act? What's going on? Who are you?"

The woman studied her intently. Then, at length, she spoke again, "So you do have amnesia. Interesting. I thought it was a surprising mistake for you to return to your apartment when you should have known we'd be having it watched."

"What are you talking about?" Chloe demanded.

"Don't worry, Watchtower. You should have plenty of time to remember while we wait for your friends to come find you."

Agent Waller shut off the video feed and turned to the man in the room with her.

"I want two guards in the room with her and at least three outside the door. If they take her from under your noses like last time, so help me, heads will roll."

The man assured her nothing would go wrong and left quickly.

Waller leaned back in her chair, curious about the apparent amnesia the Sullivan woman was suffering from. Waller had originally thought the hospital records were a ruse, a way for Sullivan to have an excuse to hide away somewhere and perhaps take herself off their radar. Showing up at her own apartment, though...well, it just went to show sometimes there really isn't a plan behind every single move across the board.

She leaned back in her chair and waited for her opponents to make their _next_ move.

* * *

Back at Watchtower, Oliver had a strong conviction that something was off. Chloe's tracking signal was still on, and it showed that it had indeed been Checkmate agents that had carried her off.

Dinah had overtaken her assailant, saving herself from being captured as well, but not in time to save Chloe. Oliver would have liked to have been angry with her, but he knew it wasn't her fault. Besides, she already looked miserable with guilt. And if Chloe had been there, and he were the one abducted, she never would have gotten angry at anyone. She would have coolly formed a plan like she always did and kept everyone calm.

"How could they not disarm the signal on her?" Victor finally voiced the question on all of their minds. "It's just palin sloppy. They're smarter than that."

Oliver stared at the blinking light on the screen. "They want us to come after her."

Bart stared at him. "What? Why? I thought she was the main target last time. They've got what they want, then, don't they?"

"Ever play chess, Bart?"

"No way. That game is way too slow. Why?"

"Because," AC answered for Oliver, "part of the game is to take as many of the other player's pieces as possible."

"What, like 'collect 'em all' or something?"

"I think that's exactly the idea," Oliver said, glancing at all of them, trying not to think about what that meant for them with no Watchtower to guide this mission.

"Is Clark coming?" Dinah asked.

"He's got his hands full with Lois, unfortunately. She's had her eye on him every minute and we agreed it's not a good idea to tell Lois her amnesiac cousin has been kidnapped by a secret government organization if we can help it. He'll break away if he has a chance to ditch her, but otherwise we're going to be a man short."

"Two men short," Bart pointed out. "Counting Chloelicious."

Oliver glared at him, and Bart backed away nervously.

"Sorry."

"Look, here's how we're going to do this. Victor, you can view a map of the building at any time, right?'

"Absolutely."

"Great. I want you to go in first and help us navigate the building." Oliver clenched his jaw as Victor nodded. It was supposed to be Chloe's job.

* * *

Chloe, hours later, was in the process of forming a plan of her own. It didn't start out that way, though. It started out with the solitary thought, _What in God's name do they want with me?_

And then, slowly, several pieces fell into place at last.

She felt like a bit of an idiot, really, considering how long it took her to realize what was right in front of her face.

Everything had pointed to it: Oliver's mysterious relationship with Clark, which included being privy to Clark's secrets. How overprotective he was. The fact that he'd not only realized immediately when she was gone, but had clearly panicked over it.

And hadn't she run into the Green Arrow that same night? How else would he have known to come looking for her? It had been evident that that was what happened. He hadn't just randomly stumbled across the one girl for miles in the middle of the night.

There were little things, too. His height, for instance. The dimple on his chin.

The smell of leather.

_That's why everyone's been keeping things from me, why they've been worried that I'll go into shock or I'll react badly._

_The Green Arrow said I work with him. How could I possibly pull that off and be Oliver Queen's personal assistant--what would be a full-time job if it were true--without someone noticing?_

Chloe rolled her eyes. _For the love of God, he calls me 'Sidekick' of all things!_

_Wow. It took me long enough_, she thought wearily. Slowly it clicked into place the reason they must have taken her. They weren't interested in her. They had to somehow knowher connection to Arrow. The Archer had said something almost exactly like that, too._ "It isn't safe out here for you. There are people who know about us and would use you to get to me. I don't want you wandering alone until you remember us._

She was bait.

_Well then,_ she thought grimly, _I'm just going to have to get out of here before he can get into trouble over me._

She looked at the two men standing in the room, both looking thoroughly bored.

_Not exactly the brightest crayons in the box, are you two?_ she raised an eyebrow. _All right, well, I may be more of a journalist than an actress, but surely I can muster something up in a minute here._

She remembered that in the Talon when she'd been attacked, she'd nearly overthrown one of the goons. She was stronger than she'd been at eighteen, and her instincts had led her more than anything. She remembered knowing some self-defense. She'd been forced to learn after a while, but apparently her skills had been honed slightly in the last couple of years.

_Let's hope so, anyway. I'm probably going to have to rely almost entirely on instinct here._

She turned her head to the man closest to her, who was seated against the wall, elbows resting casually on his knees.

"So," she said, "what's a girl got to do to get a drink of water around here?"

"Shut up," he grumbled shortly.

"What?" she asked innocently. "Do you have any idea how dry your mouth gets after being passed out for that long? It's just a glass of water."

He didn't respond, so she sighed dramatically.

"You two are terrible company, you know that? Why don't you tell me something about yourselves? What are your names for starters?"

She looked from one to the other, but still no one responded.

"Shy? That's okay. I used to be shy, too...well, no, I guess I was never shy, but my best friend was shy. Really shy. Painfully so. He used to collapse just being in the same room as the girl he liked. Actually that was because he was dramatically allergic to her jewelry--which is a weird thing to be allergic to, don't you think?--but anyway, he never really got over being shy, either. I guess it's just in some people's nature. Plus he was raised on a farm by very polite people, so I bet that had a lot to do with it, too. I liked his parents. They were always really sweet to me, and his mom, oh my gosh she baked the best--

"If I get you water, will you shut up?"

Chloe nodded, grinning at him. He walked over to his partner and grumbled something Chloe couldn't hear. She used the opportunity to ascertain what kind of knots she was dealing with around her wrists. She'd spent a good portion of her sophomore and junior years learning how to escape chains and ropes, and she could only thank God she'd gotten kidnapped _after_ remembering that part of her life.

When the first guy left to supposedly get her water, the second one stood up and walked over to her, gun in hand.

Chloe raised an eyebrow at it. "Well that's not very friendly," she joked.

He rolled his eyes in response.

Chloe smirked.

"What are you so happy about anyway?"

"You have no idea how much those ropes were chafing my wrists."


	10. Chapter 10

--10--

"Dude, I think they're moving her."

"What?" Oliver questioned Victor through the commlink. They had successfully infiltrated the building without alerting anyone--so they hoped.

"Her GPS signal is moving from the room."

"That doesn't make any sense," AC pointed out. "Why would they move her?"

"I don't know but she's not in the same room anymore. And just a moment ago one of the two heat signatures in there with her left."

"What?" Oliver asked.

"Well, where are they taking her?" Dinah interrupted.

"I--wait--I'm not sure they are. She's moving fast enough to be running now, and I don't think she's with anyone."

"What do you mean she's not with anyone?" Oliver demanded.

"I think she's making a break for it!" Victor said excitedly.

"That's the Mamacita I know!" Bart said happily.

"Arrow, she's headed for the south corridor. Head her off. We'll take care of any guards that will get in your way."

"Do you think she'll go with you?" Bart asked.

Everything in Oliver wanted to scream yes, but the truth was he wasn't sure.

"She will," Dinah answered calmly. "She trusts him."

Oliver would have liked to see the expression on Canary's face to attempt to understand what on earth made her so sure of that, but he didn't question it. "I'm heading toward her. Remember, we get in, we get Watchtower, we get out. This isn't reconnaissance or some kind of takedown. We don't know anywhere near enough about these guys to do anything but get her out."

"Hey, chill out amigo. We know," Bart said with a grin, taking out a guard before he even saw what was coming.

* * *

Chloe paused at the corner of the corridor. Her chest rose and fell heavily as she sucked in air greedily, her head was throbbing, and her heart was pounding within her chest as though it were trying to break free of her ribcage.

_Great plan, Chloe_, she thought to herself irritably as she bought herself time. _Sure, you took down the stupid goons, but did you think about where you were or how on earth you were going to get out of this blasted..._LABYRINTH?

She cursed under her breath as she braced herself to round the corner, where there would undoubtedly be more guards.

When she'd been left with only one guard in her room, she'd taken advantage of his confusion and kicked the gun out of his hand then rushed him before he saw any of it coming. Taking out the three outside her door had been far more difficult, but fortunately, she'd had the sense to take a weapon off her first captor. Those three had been quickly followed by the one who'd gone to get her water, whom she'd also made quick work of, but it had taken more out of her than she cared to admit. She wasn't sure she could handle anymore.

_Oh shut up, you pansy,_ she ordered herself. _Think like Lois. What would she do about now? Probably quote the General, complain about not having worn appropriate underwear for being kidnapped in, and then kick some ass and take some names._

"Right," she said under her breath. "Skipping to the last part now."

She rushed the corner, prepared to take out whomever she ran into.

...except _him_.

Oliver almost couldn't contain his relief when she collided with him. Chloe nearly screamed in surprise.

He grabbed her shoulders. "Relax it's--"

But she'd flung her arms around him, embracing him like she hadn't seen another human in years. "Oh thank God. Oliver!"

Oliver started. "You remem--"

She shook her head. "No. Figured it out."

"Hey, you got her?" Vic asked on the transmitter, clearly having seen their signals collide with each other.

"Yeah, she's with me."

"That's what I like to hear," Bart rejoiced.

"Let's get the hell out of here," AC responded.

"You got it," Oliver said. He looked down at Chloe, who had her face buried in his chest.

"When I get out of here, I'm making a leather pillow case to sleep on at night," she laughed exhaustedly.

Oliver chuckled. "All right, Sidekick, we're going."

* * *

It had been brutal, and twice Chloe had thought they were screwed. Clark had shown up toward the end, finally able to shake Lois to come and help them.

_And once again our heroes have foiled the villains_, Chloe thought sardonically. _When I get my memory back, I'm getting a life that's less cliche...or maybe more cliche...I'm not really sure which it is anymore._

She shook her head wearily. Oliver was half carrying her through the door of the Watchtower.

_Right. Oliver. The Green Arrow. And Bart, and Victor, and AC, and Dinah, and of course Clark._

"Ow!"

Oliver looked at her in concern. "What?"

"Headache," she muttered, reaching a hand up to rub her temple. "I've been having these random sharp pangs."

The team eyed her warily.

"She needs to go to the hospital, Oliver," Dinah said quietly.

His head snapped in her direction.

"The doctor said no shocks. I'm pretty sure this entire day constitutes as a shock."

"I'll take her," Clark said, stepping forward. "And then I have to get back to Mexico before Lois misses me."

Before Oliver could protest, Clark had disappeared with Chloe in his arms, leaving nothing but a gust of wind in his wake.

"I'll go find out what story he's going to feed them," Bart said suddenly before vanishing as well.

"DO THEY ALWAYS HAVE TO DO THAT?" Oliver yelled in frustration as papers were knocked to the ground by the second gust of wind.

Dinah just rolled her eyes and turned her head to the ceiling. "Go get your bike, Green Bean, and check up on her. The rest of us will detox and take care of a couple of battle wounds."

Oliver noticed for the first time that Victor was nursing a lump on his head, and AC's arm was bleeding. Dinah turned away from Oliver and went to check on AC's arm while Victor got himself some ice.

"Are you guys--"

"We're fine, Ollie," Dinah said sharply as she took a rag and pressed it to AC's arm. AC's face turned red as he watched her. "Go take care of Chloe."

Oliver nodded and went to grab street clothes before he left.

* * *

At the hospital, Chloe's headache was getting worse. The doctor's had given her a sedative, which was supposed to start taking effect soon, but for the moment her mind was reeling as images flashed before her, a muddied pool of memories fighting their way to the forefront of he mind.

With a groan, she dropped her head back on the pillow. The doctors had said her concussion had healed--abnormally well and abnormally quickly--but they found her sudden return of all high school memories unusual, and they thought perhaps that was all she was going to get. They suspected that either the rest of the brain cells had been too damaged to retrieve the rest, or else she was repressing things. Chloe had overheard one of them ask Clark if she'd gone through anything traumatic in the last couple of years.

Clark hadn't responded.

She wasn't going to let it happen. She was going to get it all back if it killed her.

She struggled with her consciousness, determined to remember who she really was. Running into Green Arrow at the castle...it had triggered something. She could tell. It was the same feeling she'd gotten the other night when he'd come to find her, but she was struggling to grasp what as the visions swam tauntingly before her.

. . . . .

"_Isn't this the part where you swoop in and save me?"_

_. . . . ._

"_Do you want that more than you want Clark?"_

_. . . . . _

"_Do I tell you how to shoot your arrows? I don't think so."_

_. . . . . _

"_I can't stand by and watch you marry the wrong man."_

_. . . . ._

"_Marrying you was the worst mistake of my life."_

. . . . .

"_Something about me calms the beast in him."_

. . . . .

"_Speaking as Davis's next victim, I can tell you, your plan was seriously flawed."_

. . . . .

"_This is good. You're embracing your Kryptonian heritage. There's really nothing human about you anymore."_

. . . . .

"_You saved me, Chloe, both the myth and the man."_

_. . . . ._

Chloe's eyes drifted shut in exhaustion as the sedative bogged her senses.

Oliver, however, was wide-awake. Bart informed him the story Clark had told the doctors was that Chloe was mugged, which explained the bruises (though unfortunately not the marks on her wrists from the rope), and that the shock had sent her into panic.

Oliver shook his head at the ceiling when Bart told him what the doctor's had said about the unusual circumstances of Chloe's healing and selective memories.

Was it possible that her quick recovery had something to do with her former meteor ability? _Maybe, but maybe healing too quickly was a bad thing. Maybe--_

He shook himself. There was nothing he could do about it and he shouldn't dwell on the possibility.

Everyone else was optimistic. Why couldn't he be? He should at least try for her sake if nothing else.

Oliver shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at the wall. "Go ahead home, Bart. I'll stay with her."

Bart looked at Oliver with a hint of worry. "Hey, the docs all said she was fine. She just got shook up. They were surprised she hadn't mentioned any headaches before this." He patted Oliver on the shoulder. "Don't worry so much. It makes you look like a wimp."

Oliver moved to swat Bart in the back of the head, but before he could, Bart was gone.

He chuckled tiredly and turned to head into Chloe's room. Wearily he looked down at the sleeping woman's form. Oliver didn't pray much, but at that moment he was about ready to drop to his knees if it would help.

_God, we both know I'm more of a 'do something about it' than an 'ask God for it' kind of guy, but right now, I could use some help. So if You have a spare moment any time soon, I'd appreciate it. Thanks._

He pulled a small object out of his pocket and examined it. He was surprised that Chloe had kept it. He'd discovered it when he went to chase down Dinah at the Talon after Chloe was abducted. It was just sitting there on Chloe's nightstand amongst a bit of clutter: a mug with some dried coffee in the bottom, a necklace, an old corsage, her alarm clock...

With a small smile he set it down on the table next to her bed and he went to sit in the chair next to the window.

A nurse poked her head in. "Sir? I'm really sorry but you can't--"

"I can stay if I want. I've paid for at least a third of this hospital by now," he said calmly, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

The nurse nervously flitted away, presumably to ask a superior for instructions on whether or not to leave him be.

Oliver realized as he began to fall asleep that maybe he couldn't be sure if Chloe would ever get all of her memory back, but he knew one thing: he wasn't giving up on her. She'd pieced together enough now that he could tell her almost every memory they were supposed to have together. And then they could work on some new ones until she trusted him and thought of him as a friend again.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Comment: Hey, everyone. Sorry to those of you who are always counting on my daily/bi-daily updates. Crazy weekend combined with hitting a minor case of writer's block on how to end this threw me off course for a couple of days. But, here it is at last. Thanks once again to everyone who's responded to this story, and thanks to the people who have been sending me prompts. I will be getting around to those shortly.**

**B.S.S.**

* * *

--11--

When Chloe's eyes opened it was the first thing she saw. Sitting on the table beside her bed, not six inches from her was the little white chess piece. A Queen.

She was about to sit up in bed when she realized that part of what had finally woken her (the sedatives having long since worn off) was the sound of an extremely irate Lois Lane.

"HOW COULD YOU LET HER GET MUGGED? What the hell is wrong with you, Oliver?"

"Lois--"

"I mean, I leave her with you for barely three days and this happens?"

"Listen--"

"You of all people should have been able to protect her! How could you let a mugger get the better of you?"

"Would you please--"

"She's my cousin, Ollie! My cousin! And now she's lying there, lifeless--"

"--keep your voice down?"

"--because you couldn't follow simple instructions and take care of her!"

"You're going to get us--"

A nurse entered the room.

"--thrown out," Oliver sighed, dropping back into his chair.

"Really, Miss!" the nurse said admonishingly. "If you don't calm down, I'm going to have to ask you to remove yourself from the--"

"Don't you tell me to calm down," Lois snapped. "Come back when you can actually back up those threats. In the meantime, I'm staying right here."

The nurse looked shocked and quickly fled.

Oliver rolled his eyes. "Very ladylike, Lois."

"You, shut up."

He closed his mouth and waited.

"Well," she demanded after a moment. "Don't you have anything to say for yourself?"

Oliver opened his mouth irritably, but before he could say anything, they both heard a soft chuckle. All eyes snapped in Chloe's direction, where said woman was slowly pushing herself up in bed.

"No, please," she grinned. "Don't stop on my account. You two tearing each other's heads off is clearly very important."

Oliver stood up and Lois ran to Chloe and wrapped her arms around Chloe. "You are coming home with me and you're never leaving the house ever again!"

"Hi, Lo," Chloe patted her cousin's back calmly, an amused smile gracing her lips. She glanced at Oliver and winked.

"I am so sorry I went to Mexico instead of staying with you. None of this would have happened if I hadn't left you with billion-dollar-toothpaste over there."

Oliver made an impatient noise. "How are you feeling, Chloe?"

"A bit oxygen-deprived. Lo, you're cutting off my circulation." Lois released her sheepishly and stepped back. "And lay off. Ollie did a great job taking care of me, all things considered."

"Whatever you say," Lois said grumpily. "I still think if you'd been with me--"

"What did you say?" Oliver asked suddenly.

"I said that if she'd been with me--"

"Not you, Lo," Oliver interrupted. "You," he turned to Chloe, whose eyes were dancing mirthfully.

"I said you did a great job taking care of me, all things--"

"You called me Ollie."

She nodded. "It's what I usually call you, isn't it?" She raised the chess piece in her hand indicatively.

Lois was the first to react. "Oh my god, is your memory back?"

Chloe nodded. "And let me tell you something, have I ever got the worst headache right now. I want painkillers. _Yesterday._"

"On it," Lois said, flying from the room to hunt down some poor, unsuspecting nurse.

Which left Chloe and Oliver to their standoff.

Chloe waited patiently for Oliver to say something, and Oliver just stood there, staring at her, an expression that simply screamed 'deer in headlights' painted across his face.

Chloe's lips twitched humorously.

"Well?" she asked after several minutes had passed.

Oliver opened his mouth, but was spared actually speaking by the entrance of Chloe's doctor.

"Miss Sullivan, good to see you're awake. I think you must have been thoroughly exhausted. You slept much longer than we expected you to."

"I didn't sleep very well the last couple of nights, unfortunately."

The doctor nodded, walking over to take her pulse. "I understand your memory is returned?"

Chloe nodded pleasantly.

"Entirely?"

She nodded again, and noticed out of her peripheral that Oliver had dropped into his chair again.

"That's excellent. I was a bit concerned about that. Do you remember the accident and the last couple of days?"

"Yes."

"Good. How are you feeling otherwise?" he gently examined the place where her head had been impacted.

"Like I have a massive migraine and I could use a very large glass of water."

"Well, I can certainly get you some water, and I'll put you on a very mild painkiller, but I don't want you on anything too strong."

Chloe nodded. "Thank you."

"Welcome back, Miss Sullivan," the doctor said, almost more to his clipboard than to her as he exited the room.

"Thank you, Doctor Cameron."

At which point, Chloe's laughing eyes turned automatically back to Oliver, who still looked as though he were completely terrified.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Speak."

"I'm really sorry I let you get 'mugged.' "

"Speak something other than an apology."

"I'm really glad your memory is back and that you apparently don't hate my guts."

"When did I ever hate your guts?"

"Never. But I keep expecting you to. I tend to deserve it."

Chloe raised an eyebrow skeptically.

He shrugged. Then he looked suddenly entertained. "By the way, I had a custom leather pillow case ordered for you."

Chloe laughed. "You're never going to let me live the last couple of days down, are you?"

He shook his head. "Not in a million years. I'm also going to buy myself some more green ties. Apparently the color suits me."

Chloe grabbed her pillow and through it at him. "You're terrible."

He caught the pillow easily and grinned at her. "I also plan on telling Bart you thought he was your boyfriend."

She attempted to glare, but the effect was dampened by the smile she failed to suppress. "Don't you dare!"

"What? I think he'd like to know that his flowers worked."

"It was a completely logical assumption."

"True," he grinned easily. "It's not your fault that every relationship in your life defies ordinary standards."

She raised an eyebrow at him, but he didn't seem to realize quite what he'd said. She sighed. "Where's Clark?"

All of a sudden he appeared in the room. "Just waiting outside for you to ask for me."

Chloe laughed as he bent down and hugged her. "Clark?"

"Yeah?"

"I would like to hit the back of your head right now, but I realize that is pointless because I'd only end up hurting my hand. So just realize the thought is there, please." She looked at him significantly.

Clark looked ruefully at her. "May I ask why?"

"Because first of all, you have been a complete jerk the last couple of months and I'm tired of you blowing me off. I'm about ready to make you go into relationship counseling with me as soon as I'm home again. Second of all, I don't care how guilty you feel or how many stupid things you've done, I like my life just the way it is, and I don't appreciate your stupid guilt-inspired desire to see me forget the most important aspects of my life."

Clark studied her for a minute before finally saying simply, "I'm sorry."

"You're not forgiven. I will forgive you when I have received coffee and painkillers and not a moment sooner." She gave him a sharp look, which slowly turned into an exasperated smile.

"If it means anything, I _am_ glad you're back to normal."

"_Normal,"_ Chloe repeated the word with a scoff. "Interesting choice of words. But thanks, Clark."

The doctor returned with painkillers and after they took a few more X-rays and a final CAT scan, Chloe was released.

Before Chloe left the hospital, though, she let Oliver in on some important information: when she'd gotten by the car, she'd been on her way to see him because she had realized she was being followed. Besides that, she had been unable to shake the feeling that her apartment was being watched. Unfortunately, the knowledge that someone was after her had gotten lost in translation when she lost her memory.

Of course, it all made sense now. Chloe was convinced that Checkmate wouldn't try the same move a second time, but Oliver insisted on having AC and Victor check out the Talon before she was allowed to move back in. All evidence pointed to it being safe, but Clark used the pretense of staying with Lois for a movie night in order to keep an eye out for Chloe. Chloe would have protested, but she knew it was better to err on the safe side, and Clark appeared to be using the opportunity to get into her good graces. it was evident that Clark was feeling guilty, which normally would have annoyed Chloe, but this time at least he was feeling guilty for the right reasons, so she decided not to touch the matter.

The morning after Chloe's return from the hospital she was back to work. Clark tried to persuade her to take a day for rest, but she dismissed the idea immediately, saying she'd already had three days to rest. Clark tried to point out that amnesia and abduction did not a vacation make, but it was no use.

Oliver was...startled when Chloe appeared in his apartment that morning, though he realized he shouldn't be. It was surprising how difficult it was to accept that they were going to slip right back into the old routine.

"Morning, Green Bean," she'd said when she walked in on his morning work out. She placed her laptop on his desk, an air of business about her, and for a flicker of an instant, Oliver found himself missing high school Chloe. He shrugged it off, leaving to change into fresh clothes.

_You panicked, _he told himself disgustedly as he pulled a clean shirt over his head. _You panicked in the hospital yesterday and you missed your chance._

"I'm taking the liberty of spreading a rumor that you were ill last night to explain your absence at the St. Jude fundraiser. And I'm having you make a large donation so that no one can complain," she called after him.

"Sounds good. What was I sick with?"

"Gastroenteritis."

"Sounds nasty."

"It's stomach flu."

"Will I be better soon?" he asked humorously as he reentered the room, rubbing the scruff on his chin, thinking he could use a shave.

"You look terrible," she noted.

He smirked. "You look beautiful."

They said it to each other almost every day, as a joke, but today, Oliver noted with interest, Chloe's ears turned red as she kept her eyes glued to the computer screen.

It was the sign he'd been waiting for, the indication that they were no longer on the same playing field they had been before her accident.

"You know what I think?" he asked, walking over to her and leaning on the counter to watch her.

She smirked, never looking up from the screen. "What do you think, Mr. Queen?"

"I think my stomach flu is going to last another day."

She glanced up at him, amused. "Is it? Not trying to shirk your business obligations are you?"

"Of course not. It's called delegating."

Chloe rolled her eyes before returning them to the computer. "I see, and what are you planning to do with your sick day?"

"Well, I've just about finished the design for my new compound bow--"

"Have you?"

"Yeah. So I think I'll put the final touches on that."

"Good plan. I doubt you need an entire day for that."

"I don't. There's another project I want to look into."

She raised a curious eyebrow but kept at her work. Oliver leaned over slightly to see what she was doing. It looked like she was attempting to profile some of the people who had kidnapped her, It didn't seem to be producing much result. "What project?" she asked at length, finally taking his bait.

"Well, it's a personal thing, really," he said, moving behind her under the pretense of getting a better look at the research she was doing, his face now beside hers. "It's going to require some very careful attention."

Chloe's body stiffened at the close contact. "Oh?"

With a sigh, Oliver dropped the pretense. "You know, _I_ didn't have memory loss this week. I remembered you."

"So?" she asked, steeling herself.

"So I wasn't kissing a stranger."

Chloe's face turned magnificently red. "Right. That." she said tightly, her throat suddenly constricting.

Oliver laughed, rolling his eyes as he turned her in his arms to look at him. "Yeah, _that_."

"I was confused," she said evasively, her eyes looking away from him.

"So?" he asked, summoning up more courage than he was sure he had.

Chloe forced herself to look at him. Having her memory back hadn't changed the fact that Oliver having feelings for her was the most absurd scenario she could think of. All it changed was that she remembered how much she had been hurt.

And then she remembered her conversation with Dinah in the cafe. Dinah was her friend, and she wanted Chloe to let go of how much she had been hurt, and how scared she was. _Bear it in mind_, she'd said.

"So I don't know," she said finally, her voice exasperated. "It's a lot to register."

"You don't know how you feel about me now that you have your memory back," Oliver said astutely.

She nodded.

"Well let's find out," he said, causing her to squeak in surprise when he lowered his head to capture her lips for the second time.

Chloe felt her heart beating frantically, panic spreading through her body. Maybe it was _because_ of the panic, she decided later. Maybe that rush of adrenaline was what made herself practically attack his lips in response. Even Oliver was surprised by the enthusiastic return, though he quickly took advantage of it, arms wrapping tightly around her waist and drawing her to him. He held her so tightly she had to wrench her head back to gasp for a laughing breath.

"Do you have any idea how much I missed you?" he demanded as he kissed her neck.

"Oliver!" she squealed in shock, trying to be dignified and push him off of her.

"You are not allowed to forget me ever again," he told her, pecking her lips again.

"Trust me, I won't," she laughed.

"So you say," he said in mock-admonishment, "but you put me through hell, you know."

Chloe looked at him seriously. "Thanks for taking care of me, Ollie."

The corner of his lip pulled into a hint of a smile. "That was the only fun part of it."

"Fun?" she laughed.

"Yeah. I got to see you in your pajamas, watch you walk around looking at everything through a fifteen-year-old's eyes, pretend not to notice that you'd been snooping through my things, see how long it took you to figure out everyone's secrets, freak you out every time I wasn't wearing a shirt--which, by the way, was possibly the most entertaining thing I've ever seen."

"Oh shut up," Chloe rolled her eyes, attempting to squirm out of his arms as he teased her. Oliver, naturally, tightened his grip to disallow it.

"I'm serious! _Nothing _makes you nervous. But apparently when you were a teenager..." he trailed off.

"Ass," she accused.

"That made you nervous too? Duly noted."

Chloe just laughed. "Would you shut up? You're becoming less attractive by the minute."

"I am not," he said, kissing her again. He released her just enough for her to wrap her arms around his neck.

"You need a shave," Chloe said, giggling as the stubble on his chin tickled her.

"You need to stop interrupting kissing with silly things like talking and breathing," he countered, hands lowering to squeeze her ass. Chloe squealed and swatted his shoulder in response, jumping back from him.

"Neanderthal."

"Yes I am. Would you like to see my cave?"

"I _cannot_ believe you just said that," she rolled her eyes mockingly.

"Yeah, yeah. C'mere, woman," he told her, dragging her back to him. He rested his forehead against hers.

"Hi," she said humorously.

"Hi," he said back.

"I'm sorry I put you through hell."

"I can think of a few ways to make up for it."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. And all of them involve caveman behavior on my part."

"Well, I'll see what I can do."

"Chloe?"

"Hmm?"

"You know I'm going to make sure you never ever forget me again, right?"

"I'm counting on it."


End file.
